Ch. 4 The Marketing Environment

          The marketing environment includes a few very important aspects to a companies marketing plan and strategy. Based on the elements within the marketing environment firms may implement new tactics and plans over time to continue to compete with internal and external changes that are needed to stay competitive within the market.

                                                              The Marketing Mix: 

Product:  This is simply the product, good, or service that a company sells and markets for a profit.
Place:  Refers to where this product/good/service is distributed, domestically and internationally, through e-commerce, or a variety of specialty boutiques and outlets.
Promotion:  These are the different approaches to widening the audience and in turn the sales of that a firms offers, by advertisements, public relations, sales promotion and personal selling which all have the potential to dramatically increase sales revenue.
Price:  What a buyer must give up in order to obtain the product/good/service. This amount is completely up to the firm, and is often the quickest element of the marketing mix, to change. The price can be competitive with other companies, both on the higher and low scale, by sending different messages to potential buyers what the quality or value of a product or service.

           For any company developing and positively identifying its target market while defining the elements within its marketing mix is crucial to its short and long-term success. After the purchase by Clorox in 2007 Burt's Bees has continued to push forward by increasing its market share and developing a stronger brand image while increasing profits. In 2008 the company teamed up with Mike Indursky to launch a new campaign for some its its existing and best-selling products. Today Indursky is the President of Bliss World, but in 2008 while working with Burt's Bees his skill and expertise involved increasing awareness for the personal care market place, focusing on natural product innovation and new marketing strategies. It was in this year that Burt's Bee launched the Natural vs. Campaign. The ads totaled 6 images of Burt's Bees products with a list of their ingredients versus the ingredients found in other products of the same category; lip balms, body lotions, hand creams etc.. The simplicity of the advertisements was hard to deny. Where one product was made with petroleum, Burt's Bees would use beeswax, royal jelly instead of dimethicone - a silicone oil which can irritate the skin, milk and honey vs. DMDM Hydantoin - a chemical preservative, all clearly showing how Burt's Bees products were different from other brands. The campaign went one step further by suggestive asking consumers if they were reading the list of ingredients in the products that they purchased.

Recently in 2012 Burt's Bees launched the Güd (good) line in there attempt to target a younger market. The previous Burt's Bees customers were older, well-educated, with middle to high incomes, people who were more conscious of the products they used and their own environmental impacts which is why the Burt's Bees brand would appeal to them. To reach a younger customer Burt's Bees developed the first fragrance-focused brand in the natural products category. 

Target Market: A group of people or organizations for which an organization designs, implements, and maintains a marketing mix intended to meet the need of that group resulting in mutually satisfying exchanges. 

- As the marketing environment changes, marketing managers must also change. 

- Making changes to the marketing mix allows managers to influence the external environment. 

- Environmental scanning, the collecting and evaluating of information on the external environment,  enables managers to make intelligent decisions for the marketing strategies as well as better assessing target markets. 

Component Lifestyles: The practice of choosing goods/services that meets one's diverse needs and interests rather than conforming to a single traditional lifestyle. 

- It is important to note that today's average consumer is more diverse than ever before, and therefore there lifestyles and interests reach a wide range of products and services. 

Demography: The study of peoples vital statistics such as age, race, ethnicity and location. 

- The study and research of demographics gives a large resource of information to marketing managers, by improving the 'how' and 'why' motivations of potentials customers. 

- Demographics are strongly related to buyer behavior, and understanding the demographics of consumers give companies competitive edge. 

With the launch of its Güd line of fragrance-based products, Burt's Bees has endeavored to target a market of women between the ages of 18 and 24. This customer is 'not anti-environment, but does not make purchases based on a product's green credentials.'  The difference between this customer and the traditional Burt's Bees customer, is that they are actually driven to purchase products on how they smell. This in and of itself is the selling point for the Güd product line, they are made specifically for women who purchase products based on there scents. 

Sources: Ad Age, Sustainable Brands, Huffington Post , Güd