4. Delivering Value
4.1 ‘Business Buzz’: How could you create ‘buzz’ around your product?
Delivering a buzz around your product is one of the essential actions that the business should make in order to achieve business goals. With our product, which is the sachets of fish soup, it could be a challenge to put a buzz around it as it does not go with some other usual pre-packed foods. Therefore, it is a quite new to the market. However, there are some ways on how to create buzz on a product such as the sachets of fish soup. Hatzistefanis (2011) says that buzz is the outcome of continuous work over the course that has become viral because of a trigger event. These consistent efforts can be achieved through application marketing mix that can establish the product in the market. We can use the 4Ps of marketing in the course of these actions, which are People, Passion, Personalization, and Profitability (ronaldskelton.com). A People strategy is needed to create a buzz around the product in a way that the business considers various people in that may impact the business outcomes. They are the decision-makers and innovators that can contribute to the business’ overall goal. Also, Passion, which is similar to branding, is another strategy to create a buzz around the sachets of fish soup as the product. In order to apply branding onto the product, every action must be passionately focused on the business’ goals.
Furthermore, and one of the most important, Personalization of the brand must be consistent through various ways such as using different mediums, such as advertisement and the power of social media (ronaldskelton.com). Facebook and Twitter can both be used to update the society about the launch of this product as such mediums are two of the easiest ways to reach the target market as well as to spread the product information. The business can also use a website that can be accessible to both end-customers and shareholders in order to put value on the product (Jenkinson, n.d.).
4.2 ‘Business Value’
Values are not just focused on the business’ product itself. In that sense, business value portrays the philosophy of every company that serves the core of their business (business.qld.gov.au). These are the driving forces that steer the business, employees, and management towards the right direction. Business values also refer to the company’s standards when it comes to behavior (business.qld.gov.au). These behaviors include practices that are acceptable in the business such as good relations between employer and its employees. When it comes to the customers’ perspective, business values are the services that they expect and get once they deal with the business itself. In application to the idea of making sachets of fish soup, business values must present the advantages that they can get in getting involved in the business such as employment security and income. On the other hand, business value based on the customers’ perspective comes from the value of the product such as the advantages that they can gain from buying fish soup sachets. Will it cost them less than the other products and is it healthy enough to provide nutrition that they need, are two of the questions that must be offered to present the product’s business value.
4.2.1 Identify the value chain or network of your business
Value chain is the cycle or series of activities, which build and create value at every phase. The overall value that business delivers is the sum total of every value that were built throughout the business (indiatimes.com). Value chain is an essential concept, which separates important business activities from the unimportant ones. Useful activities are the course of actions that enables the company to achieve its goals through competitive advantage while unimportant activities are the ones that obstruct the business from being a leader in the industry. The idea of creating sachets of fish soup products, value chain will identify the essential actions that the business needs. The value chain involves various stages that determine the phases of delivering values of both the business and its product. These stages are in-line with Porter’s value chain such as Inbound Logistics, Operations, Outbound Logistics, Marketing and Sales, and Service (Brooks, 2013).
Inbound Logistics is the process in which the business gets the materials in order to add value on the product. It also refers to the business’ involvement in receiving and storing raw materials in order to process the product itself (Brooks, n.d.) For the manufacturing of fish soup in sachets, inbound logistic is when raw materials such as main ingredients and packing materials are being delivered by their suppliers. The possible business partners in this stage are the fishermen in order for them to have stable sales by supplying their catches to the company.
An Operation is when such raw materials are in process of being a final product. In this stage, the supplied materials such as the fish and ingredients are being processed together in order to create the final product, which is the fish soup in sachet. The possible business partner could be a person who can handle the overall operation of the business. The next series is the Outbound Logistics, which involves the distribution of the product to the market and to end customers (indiantimes.com). After the fish soups have been packed and ready for distribution, they will be brought to the various points of sales such as the supermarkets. While the product is on its way to be distributed, the Marketing and Sales team will then execute the strategies such as the ‘buzz’ that was initially created. The possible partners for this execution of strategies are the company’s marketing and sales experts so as to spread the launching of the product. The final series of the value chain would be the Service. In this stage, the business must have the awareness about how they can maintain the popularity of their product as well as the after sales activities. In this case the business will be aware of the possible changes that can be applied to the product to remain its competitiveness in the market.
4.2.2 Name the three business functions/activities that you consider to be the most crucial in delivering the value to your customers.
The three business functions that are considered to be crucial in delivering value to our customers are Marketing, Distribution, and After Sales Services. Marketing would be the medium to let the customers know of the product’s value for them. This is when the business highlights the product’s value in terms of value for the customers’ money such as the quality of the product and other benefits that they can get from buying it. On the other hand, Distribution is the activity in which the business ensures the availability of their product in the market. The business must ensure that they always have the enough product supplies to cater the customer demands. Furthermore, the After Sales Services are the activities that maintain the value by ensuring that the product’s good quality has been preserved from production until it reaches the end customers. After Sales Services are also the activities that gather information from the customers in the event that there is a room for improvement, which must be addressed by the company in order to maintain the product’s value to the customers.
References
Brooks, C. (2013, December 20). Value Chain: Analysis, Definition & Management. Retrieved from http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5678-value-chain-analysis.html
The Economic Times. (n.d.). Value Chain Definition | Value Chain Meaning - The Economic Times. Retrieved from http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/definition/value-chain
Hatzistefanis, M. (2012, February 14). How to Create a Buzz Around Your Products | Maria Hatzistefanis. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maria-hatzistefanis/creating-product-buzz_b_1142716.html
Jenkinson, C. (n.d.). How To Create A Buzz Around A New Product. Retrieved from http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/how-to-create-a-buzz-around-a-new-product
Queensland Government. (2014). Business values | Queensland Government. Retrieved from http://www.business.qld.gov.au/business/starting/business-planning/business-values
Rosenblatt, G. (2013, May 16). The Key to Creating Value in Business. Retrieved from http://www.the-vital-edge.com/creating-value-in-business/
Skelton, R. (2009, December 22). Marketers Add to the 4 P's of Marketing to Gain Competitive Advantage | Ronald Skelton Marketing Coach. Retrieved from http://www.ronaldskelton.com/2009/12/22/marketers-add-to-the-4-ps-of-marketing-to-gain-competitive-advantage/
