9/12/2019 Module 5: Pitching and the Product - WebCOM™ 2.0 ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY VENTURES ADAM WEBB MODULE 5: PITCHING AND THE PRODUCT INTRODUCTION Pitching a product or a service of a business is a creative endeavor. Depending on the business, strategies or tactics in selling their product or service will vary. While it might help to have a background in marketing or advertising, there are strategies and tactics anyone can use when developing a pitch. Some of these strategies and tactics include thoroughly knowing the product or service, appearing open and friendly, and showing a high level of interest when discussing it with others. Illustration by Adam Webb Being able to discuss the fine points of a product or service can convey confidence to an intended audience. Conducting thorough research is a first step in this process. Developing a survey to determine how a target population will respond to a product or service is a commonly used technique. Conducting a survey could also be used to gauge an audienceʼs impression on suggested improvements to a product or service. Creating incentive in the form of offering free merchandise or monetary https://asu.grtep.com/index.cfm/writingbusiness/page/mod5 1/8 9/12/2019 Module 5: Pitching and the Product - WebCOM™ 2.0 compensation to individuals willing to take a survey is a tactic that can be employed in order to gain participation. Beyond seeking direct feedback from a particular demographic, doing background research on any challenges and alternative options to a product or service, as well as being able to compare similarities and differences between them, can help make the argument stronger as to why individuals need it. When giving a pitch, using consistent language and words when describing a product or service and its purpose can make it more appealing to an audience. Depending on the style of persuasiveness in the pitch, the descriptions and imagery may have an emotional and logical appeal. Another aspect of being persuasive is anticipating your intended audienceʼs response. While it is difficult to anticipate every response when delivering a pitch, strategies such as including customer testimonials and remaining solutionoriented can add to the way an audience receives the information as well as win their trust. In a world, where individuals are constantly communicating information, effectively using the Internet and social media is crucial in the promotion of a product or service. In a culture, where so much information Illustration by Adam Webb can be conveyed within a meme online, the incorporation of topical issues in a pitch can sometimes benefit how the audience perceives the product or service. While levity is not the goal in a pitch meeting, depending how an individual introduces it can further establish a personal connection with their audience, making them relatable. Finally, because of the transactional aspect in business and technical writing, an individual should strive for clarity and conciseness when making a pitch. https://asu.grtep.com/index.cfm/writingbusiness/page/mod5 2/8 9/12/2019 Module 5: Pitching and the Product - WebCOM™ 2.0 0:00 / 1:35 Project Description: Students are required to create or improve a marketing campaign and advertisement/commercial for a business, product, or service for a certain segment of the population (audience). For example, the audience is North Americans, working class, possibly college students, who are relatively mobile, and are between the ages of 20 and 30 (age ranges can vary, as well as other variables such as race, gender, or income). The population, the product, or service is designed for will meet their everyday needs of eating, food, or cooking (once again, these are examples). Other examples could include: Meeting everyday needs of driving, transportation, and parking. Meeting everyday needs of education, attending classes, and paying for college. Meeting everyday needs of housing, renting, or looking for a place to live. Also, students may determine their own target population as well as the demographics. https://asu.grtep.com/index.cfm/writingbusiness/page/mod5 3/8 9/12/2019 Module 5: Pitching and the Product - WebCOM™ 2.0 Step 1: Think of a business, product, or service that addresses the audience described in the example prompt above. Create a marketing strategy and advertisement/commercial for the business, product, or service. NOTE: It can also be a business, service, or product that already exists but could be improved upon. Important question to consider for this step: What kind of research will need to be done in order to understand the population or target audience? Step 2: service. Design the advertisement/commercial for the business, product, or Important questions to consider while creating the advertisement and/or commercial: What kind of research needs to be done in order to create the advertisement and/or commercial? How will language and visuals be used in design of the advertisement for the product and/or service? How are images and words used to convince or persuade the audience to buy the product/service? How does the format or genre, such as a magazine advertisement, website, commercial, best sell or promote the product or service? Step 3: Create the advertisement/commercial for an audience. Students should briefly cover these questions in their business, product, and service as well as for their advertisement/commercial: Who is the target population? https://asu.grtep.com/index.cfm/writingbusiness/page/mod5 4/8 9/12/2019 Module 5: Pitching and the Product - WebCOM™ 2.0 What is significant about this group of people? Why choose them? What reasoning, such as decision-making strategies, was used in creating or improving the product/service? Are there any drawbacks to the product/service? (i.e. Disadvantages and/or limitations). What are the benefits of the product/service? (i.e. How is it different than what is already out there now? What more or else does the product and/or service offer that others do not). CONSIDERATIONS FOR CREATING THE ADVERTISEMENT OR COMMERCIAL Things to consider when creating a commercial or advertisement for the product and/or service: Creating The Look—Will your advertisement include men and women? What kind of tone will they take when talking about the product/service? Will it involve multiple individuals talking about the product/service? How will they be dressed? Business-formal? Casual? “Everyday clothes?” It depends on what will work. Will they possess a serious look? Will they smile? Laugh? Will the speaker(s) have a “captivated” look about her/him, like if they know something very important, is convinced by this knowledge, and is seeking to slowly reveal it? If your advertisement is a commercial, will multiple speakers talk about the product or service. Such as taking turns describing “the product/service?” Will the commercial involve one person telling another person about the product? Or will the scene consist of a person talking to a large group of people about the product/service like at a conference? NOTE: Creating The Atmosphere—Where will this individual(s) be standing? Will there just be a white/gray/black background? In the park? A bright sun https://asu.grtep.com/index.cfm/writingbusiness/page/mod5 5/8 9/12/2019 Module 5: Pitching and the Product - WebCOM™ 2.0 shining behind them? What kind of colors? Will the background be changing (dynamic)? Consider some of these scenes as well as others. Creating The Props?—What kinds of additional things should be included in the commercial/advertisement, such as children running around, animals like dogs/cats, other people that the speaker(s) slightly interact with? The Use of Language—How will the individual(s) talk about the product/service? Will the individual(s) use descriptive sentences? Short phrases? Various examples in describing the product/service? Will the individual(s) pose any kinds of questions, thought-provoking or rhetorical ones? The Use of Visuals and/or Digital Words—Should any pictures or digital recreations be used during the commercial on in the advertisement, such as ones that visually portray what the product/service is supposed to create or make the audience feel? Will there just be words and images to sell the product/service, such as flashing them on the screen in a sequence? “The Use of Sound and/or Music”—If your project is in the form of a commercial, will there be any sounds or music playing at the beginning, during or at the end of it? NOTE: If you would like to view more than the student samples listed below, please email the instructor to request them. Product and/or Service Project Writing sample Product and/or Service Project Writing sample Product and/or Service Project Writing sample Product and/or Service Project Presentation sample 1 Product and/or Service Project Presentation sample 2 https://asu.grtep.com/index.cfm/writingbusiness/page/mod5 6/8 9/12/2019 Module 5: Pitching and the Product - WebCOM™ 2.0 Product and/or Service Project Presentation sample 3 Product and/or Service Project Presentation sample 4 Product and/or Service Project Presentation sample 5 Product and/or Service Project Presentation sample 6 Product and/or Service Project Presentation sample 7 Questions to consider for this project: How will you present your new or improved marketing strategy and advertisement/commercial your business, product, or service? What images will you use? Will you design some of your own? What images will you use to persuade your audience that the marketing strategy and advertisement/commercial for your business, product, or service is effective, useful and needed? What medium will you use to create your project (i.e. Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Prezi, PowToon, etc.)? GRADING RUBRIC FOR THE PRODUCT OR SERVICE: Projects must meet all of the criteria below in order to receive full credit. The marketing strategy and advertisement/commercial for the studentʼs business, product, or service is clearly presented in the writing and in the advertisement or commercial. There is evidence that the students conducted research on their business, product, or service. The sources are cited properly in MLA or APA format and style or a recognized convention. https://asu.grtep.com/index.cfm/writingbusiness/page/mod5 7/8 9/12/2019 Module 5: Pitching and the Product - WebCOM™ 2.0 The writing is visibly free from any inconsistencies (i.e. Punctuation and spelling). The visuals (i.e. Pictures, video, graphs, charts, etc.) are used effectively and have a purpose to the marketing strategy and advertisement/commercial for the business, product, or service. WebCOM™ 2.0 is a trademark of Great River Learning. All rights reserved. © 2002-2019. https://asu.grtep.com/index.cfm/writingbusiness/page/mod5 8/8 Ghezlan Almatar, Weijiang Nie, Mengqi Li ENG 302 April 8th, 2016 A Brief Research on Marketing the iPhone On January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs announced the first iPhone, which is similar to the previous ipod, but with a wider screen and touch controls. It’s a revolutionary mobile phone, and a breakthrough internet device. He described this first iPhone as “breakthrough”, “phenomenal”, and “revolutionary” (Meyer). On the following June, the original iPhone was ready to buy, and the total unit sales had reached 5 million by 2008. Most importantly, the customer satisfaction scores on the survey were higher than any other Apple products (“Apple”). Apple still continued to advance, although the first iphone had incredible success in revenue. From the original iPhone to recently announced iPhone SE, Apple almost introduced a new iPhone every year. Each time after introducing, although most of customers already owned a previous iPhone, they are still eager to buy the new product. It’s undoubtful that the day before releasing the product in the retail store, the customers will wait to buy it for an unreasonable time. Clearly, iPhone is one of the most successful products in cellular phone market. Then Apple continuously developed the product in shape, processor, texture, feature, sound, display, and appearance. Here is a detailed comparison among all the iPhones. From the comparison table, we can see that Apple added two or more features for each new iPhone. New features such as 3D Touch makes iPhone stands out. That obviously is one of the reasons why iPhone succeeded. Commented [1]: great introduction! Quite a bit of information in that graphic! Other than developing iPhone every year, having a great business strategy is also an essential for Apple to succeed. A business strategy, which is defined as “is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal or set of goals or objectives” (“A”). In this case, creating an iOS system is one of the most visionary business strategy. iOS is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. and distributed exclusively for Apple hardware. It is the operating system that presently powers many of the company's mobile devices, mostly the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. When users use the iOS system and hit the home button, the home screen will display application icons and a dock at the bottom of the screen where they can pin their most frequently used apps. With Spotlight, users are able to search media, apps, emails, contacts, messages, reminders, calendar events, and similar content. Because of its easiness to use, iOS system helps the sales of Apple products. As of January 2015, Apple's App Store contained more than 1.4 million iOS applications, 725,000 of which are native for iPads. These mobile apps have collectively been downloaded more than 100 billion times (Ingraham). It is the most strong competitor with Android in mobile operating. As the one of the most valuable company in the world, Apple has paid great attention to the role of advertising in the market. Since Apple was founded at 1971, Apple's ads has been known to the unconventional. Apple's advertising thrust is not like most other same industry companies, they would never spend a lot of ads chapter describes the product's features or the background of Apple. On one hand, Apple's ads can arouse the reader's imagination, on the other hand, their advertising have a small amount of words or sentences to guide the readers to imagine. As the result of this style of advertising, most of readers will get message that Apple wants to tell: “When you get an Apple products, your life will change.” Apple's advertising is very simple, sometimes it just use a picture accompanied by some words. For example, in 1997, Apple posted some great length advertising in newspapers and magazines. they creative by black and white, and arranged in a lot of characters who represents the change of era, including Albert Einstein, Muhammad Ali, Gandhi, Bob Dylan and Earhart, at the corner of these characters picture, there is an Apple logo with the Apple's advertising slogan Commented [2]: That is a powerful statement. "Think Different". At the same time when Apple announced the first iPhone in January 2007, Apple's main competitor announced it would offer the Android operating system for free and launched the first Android phone G1 in November 2008 (Charles). Since then the two companies have been competing regarding design and functionalities. Therefore, since both gadgets were introduced almost at the same time, many people compare them along with the two companies. Applications Both Android's and Apple's search engines are very powerful. However, when they are compared, it is clear that Apple’s Spotlight finds more elements than Android's Search Assistant, for example podcasts, email, notes, calendar events, reminders, voice memos, and texts. On top of that iPhones' voice detection capabilities prove to be slightly better than Android's. Even though its Voice Assistant types as the user talks, Siri understands the operator’s natural Commented [3]: Good work addressing their rhetorical approach to advertising. language better. Finally, it is worth noting that Android has created very useful default Messenger application. However, Apple's iMessage also enables the user to send free voice and text messages to other Apple users (Goldman et al.). Therefore, it can be noticed that both devices have rather good basic applications in store. Exterior Design Both devices have different exterior design. For instance, each iPhone has a physical “set phone to vibrate” switch, unlike Google devices that one has to first log into and press the volume down button (Goldman et al.). The feature makes the former to be more convenient for the users in case they are unable to use the device. However, other exterior elements are quite similar. Both Android phones and iPhones have volume buttons and lock and unlock button along their bodies. Pricing The pricing policy of both companies also varies. Actually, for the same specifications Apple sets the prices of its products very high. Since the very beginning Apple has been setting its prices a lot higher than Android or any other company. And recently the newest devices of both companies differ in price by several hundred dollars. However, whether Apple's prices are justified or Android's are too conservative is up to the users. After all, everyone finds something they like in both products. In conclusion, it is evident that both iPhones and Android-phones are very different despite having the same functions. Beginning with the applications and ending with pricing two companies have very different approaches. However, it does not prevent people from buying both of them and liking them for their unique features and functions. Ghezlan, Weijiang, and Mengqi, well, good work on discussing the two leading companies’ smartphones and the way they approached advertising their products! References “A Definition of Business Strategy.” Rapid Business Intelligence Success. Syd Stewart. Web. 4 Apr. 2016. “Apple Sets iPhone Price at $399 for this Holiday Season.” Apple. Apple Inc. Web. 4 Apr. 2016. Charles, Arthur. “The History of Smartphones: Timeline.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited, 24 Jan. 2012. Web. 25 Mar. 2016. Goldman, David, Gwen Sung, and Stephany Cardet. “iPhone Vs. Android: Which is Better?” CNN Money. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2016. Ingraham, Nathan. “Apple's App Store has passed 100 billion app downloads.” The Verge. Vox Media, Inc., 8 Jun. 2015. Web. 4 Apr. 2016. Kiprin, Borislav. “Apple's iPhone Launch Marketing Strategy Analysis.” SlideShare. LinkedIn Corporation, 8 Jan. 2010. Web. 25 Mar. 2016. Meyer, Robinson. “Apple's Smartphone Revolution Is Over.” The Atlantic. The Atlantic Monthly Group, 10 Sep. 2015. Web. 4 Apr. 2016. 1 Xiaotong Li Yao Huang ENG 302 April 8, 2016 Marketing Lenovo Lenovo Group Ltd. is a Chinese multinational technology company with headquarters in Beijing, China, and Morrisville, North Carolina, United States. Lenovo was founded in Beijing in 1984 as Legend and was incorporated in Hong Kong in 1988. Lenovo has operations in more than 60 countries and sells its products in around 160 countries. It designs, develops, manufactures and sells personal computers, tablet computers, smartphones, smart televisions and other electronic and technology products. Nowadays, Lenovo is already the most valuable PC brand in China. To keep investors on side, the company recognizes the need to continue its push beyond PCs by expanding a smartphone division now concentrated on China and, potentially, moving into areas such as servers to support rising demand for cloud computing. In 2015, Lenovo was the world's largest personal computer vendor by unit sales. It markets the ThinkPad line of notebook computers, IdeaPad line of notebook laptops, IdeaCentre line of desktops, Yoga line of notebook laptops, and the ThinkCentre line of desktops. This essay is focused on Lenovo’s development in the U.S. PC market. Lenovo always wants to expand its brand out of the China/Asia-Pacific market while seize more market share in the global market. The United States is an important target market of Lenovo. In May 2005, Lenovo completed its acquisition of IBM PC department, which made it the world's third largest PC vendor. At the same time, Lenovo also received the right to use the “ThinkPad” brand. That is why the brand name “Lenovo” appears on the newest ThinkPad notebook computers. Caris&Co. analyst Mark Stahlman said that, listed in the US market is significance for Lenovo. Like Sony marks the Japanese stock market, the Lenovo can be a representative of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as well. In addition, the amount of pure PC stocks in the U.S. stock markets can be counted on one’s finger, and the appearance of Lenovo can fill this gap. The first step of gain market share in the United States is to choose the target customers and use the market segmentation strategy to decide appropriate marketing strategies for different customer groups. We think that Lenovo can classify its customers by demographic factors. 1. Gender Male and female customers have different requirements for almost everything, and there are no exception for PC. Female customers value the product appearance more than 2 its performance. PC with bright colors, cure shapes, light weight and small sizes are preferred by them. As for male customers, the performance and cost efficient of the PC are what matters to them. Male customers are looking for computers with strong practical features and high performance-price ratio. What’s more, compared to iMac and other portable laptop, male customers prefer heavy laptops like Alienware from Dell because it offers better game and video experience. 2. Age Due to the social environment and occupation difference of customers in different ages, their demand for PC products varies as well. We classified customers as low-grade students, high- grade students or young workers and elderly customers according to their age. For low-grade students, most of their PCs are given by their parents. The main reason why parents purchase PCs for their children is to help them with study. The study function of children computers have to be strong，and the weight need to be light so children can bring their computers to school. What’s more, parents do not want their children to spend all day playing games or looking at Facebook pages. The entertainment function of children computers better be weak or even do not possess at all. We defined students from 18 to 25 as high-grade students. Students in this age generally have a great demand for computer products. Most of them are in colleges, and they love to follow the trend and replace computer products rapidly. They requires the newest technology, coolest appearance and good performance from their computer. Because of various majors of college students, their computers must have the ability to meet the requirement of some professional software, like engineering drawing and game development. What’s more, the computer need to be multifunctional since college students always have many social activities. Also, most college students love computer games, which requires their computers to run fast with good heat dissipation. We think that young workers have similar demands for PCs as college students. Elder customers refers to those who over 60 years old and are already retired. Since the development of computer is not too long, customers within this group may not familiar with computers as much as other customers. They do not need their computers to be personalized or multifunctional, the only requirement is good price and quality. Now that we have identified the target customers for Lenovo, we need to find its position in this highly competitive market. Here is a picture for positons about Lenovo and its main competitors in the U.S. market: 3 We use price and brand awareness as two dimensions in this plane coordinate system. Lenovo’s low inventory reduce the cost significantly, which give it a certain competitive advantage on price compared to other competitors. Also, Lenovo has some advantages in terms of brand awareness. In the U.S., Lenovo has more reputation than HP, and almost at the same level with Dell. The strongest competitor for Lenovo on brand awareness is Apple. Almost every American know this brand and its product iMac. Therefore, Lenovo should improve its brand awareness by vigorously promote over social media and advertisements. This is the fastest way for Lenovo to lead the way in the PC industry. The promote strategies we suggested for Lenovo are: 1. Take advantages of the IBM brand The IBM brand has an important position in the U.S. PC market. According to assessment from the World Brand Laboratory, the brand value of Lenovo is only 1/8 of IBM’s. This is not only gap between technology, reputation and financial strength, but also the gap between their products. Now that Lenovo merged the IBM PC department, if Lenovo wants to integrate the two brand, it need to show its improvements on products. The main step is to create unique products with high cost-effective ratio continually, and provide impeccable globalization services for these products. In this way, Lenovo can attract many potential customers while increase its market shares. High brand awareness coupled with a price advantage, the competitiveness of Lenovo products will be greatly increased. 4 2. Create presence by being title sponsor Someone said that the largest business in the world is sports and computers, and now Lenovo has involved in both industries. The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games offers Lenovo a great opportunity to increase its brand influence. In 2012, Lenovo began to corporate with NBA. The rest hut with the brand name “Lenovo” and the advertisements during intermission really attracts lots of customers while displays Lenovo’s strong capital to the whole world. Lenovo’s success in this area shows that this is an effective way to improve its brand awareness. After all the strategies are taken care of, we now need to find ways to present our data to the managers of Lenovo. Here are our thoughts: 1. Convince the manager that we have an in-depth knowledge of Lenovo. Let the manager believe that we are here to offer help with a serious attitude and strong confidence. 2. Use data and survey results to increase credibility. We are college students, not famous analysts or marketers. As we all know, the company and managers will not believe a single word you said if you do not show your credibility to them. We did a lot of researches and analysis for this strategy, and I think that it will be easier for the manager to accept our work if we told him/her about the data and survey results done by famous analysis units. 3. Show all the details include how to allocate resources, how to perform at each steps and how to react if accident happens. A mature strategy is not only a thoughts or an idea, but also a complete system of how to achieve each phase and the following results. 4. Show managers the profitability and benefits of each stage of our plan. Make them believe that our strategies are useful and effective. The more benefits our strategy can bring to Lenovo, the more opportunity that the manager will buy our work. Analysts and some of its competitors say Lenovo is one of the few PC companies that seems able to keep outperforming a slow market. We believe that if Lenovo can increase its investment in product design, find access to a massive world market, and continue its strong corporate sales, Lenovo will earn itself an unusually strong position atop the PC market. 5 Works Cited How Lenovo Is Increasing Its Brand Awareness, retrieved April 5, 2016 http://adage.com/article/cmo-interviews/lenovo-increasing-brand-awareness/231929/ Lenovo, retrieved April 4, 2016 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenovo Lenovo targeted marketing strategies, retrieved April 4, 2016 http://wenku.baidu.com/link?url=nM3Rzjtlmhm4zKK5xP6iI4ZkyqvovJHNJxg80e0SLjRRq6rZ8JkcpWA9UlP19tFqv3E8rzHhiziKopxAXHxvC9cyHWagnLdFiJ1ie GHv0K 10 Years Later, Looking back at the IBM-Lenovo PC Deal, retrieved April 4, 2016 http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2483557,00.asp Chelse Henry English 302 Project #4 8 April 2016 Starting a Business - Oishii Coffee Business Plan Oishii Coffee is a mobile coffee shop that services the greater Phoenix area providing excellent beverages and food that will utilize local and/or organic products and will offer limited seating and wi-fi on locations. We will service the downtown area where there is a concentration of business peoples and attend weekend or weeknight farmers’ markets, parades, or other events. Our mission is to support local businesses and ideas and to give back to the community with inspiring a healthy lifestyle and sustainability Target Market: Position or Concentration: Oishii means tasty in Japanese. Oishii Coffee will focus on providing “tasty” coffee products for consumers, but we are also offering a way to support the local businesses. The coffee brewed will be from local roasters and we will highlight a different blend every month. Our food truck will also support the sustainable movement: our truck will have added solar panels to utilize green energy and use post-consumer recycled cups. Competitive Advantage: A competitive advantage is what distinguishes a business from the competition in the minds of its customers. By looking at the three key determinates; what is produced, target market, and competition; our competitive advantage includes providing quality coffee at a competitive price and being convenient since being located at local events means the customer can buy coffee on site and not need to leave the event. Henry 2 Income Streams: Oishii Coffee provides its patrons the finest hot and cold beverages, specializing in specialty coffees and custom blended teas. Oishii will also offer fresh-baked pastries and other confections from local bakeries. Seasonally we will add beverages such as hot apple cider, hot chocolate, frozen coffees, and more. We hope to increase our revenue stream by also adding coffee mugs, t-shirts, and other goods. Price Strategy: Competitive pricing will be used since coffee sold in different shops is essentially the same. In order to imply quality we will use psychological pricing and price items even numbered. Top Three Competitors:  Community Perks beverage cart  Starbucks – convenient and scale coffee  Cartel Coffee – gourmet coffee in a brick and mortar shop Background research: The idea of food trucks have changed over the years from greasy “roach coaches” to successful and sought-out food eateries in major cities. Gourmet food trucks are using a variety of new business model approaches. The main one is the use of the truck: low cost and flexible. The other approaches include:  a focus on high quality food at value prices  alternative, unique and fast changing menu items  social media to connect and communicate with customers In a blog on FoodTruckr.com, they asked food truck owners across the country: “What’s one thing you wish you’d known before you started your food truck?” The answer they received most frequently was that navigating thru the regulations and permits was extremely frustrating. In the Phoenix area, The Phoenix Street Food Coalition is a group of specialty food vendors. This organization is dedicated to increasing awareness of innovative street food in the Phoenix metro area and provides regular education seminars, networking opportunities, advocacy, and social media support. The Small Business Association also has a variety of information regarding starting a new business and has additional resources for green businesses and also womenowned businesses. Estimated budget: According to the Small Business Administration, 50% of small businesses fail in the first three to five years. Studies show the top two reasons for failure are management inexperience and insufficient capital. Henry 3 The following start-up and annual costs have been estimated based off research posted from the Washington Post and Food Truck Empire. Expenses: Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 45,000 Custom truck 500 450 Mobile Food Vendor Unit Permit and Mobile Vendor License 6,000 6,000 6,000 Commissary 5,000 1,000 1,000 Equipment 2,000 3,000 4,000 Inventory 1,200 800 1,000 Supplies 1,200 1,200 1,200 Utilities 2,000 2,000 2,000 Insurance (General Liability Insurance and Truck Insurance) 6,000 6,000 6,000 Fuel 1,000 1,000 1,000 Repairs 4,000 4,000 4,000 Legal/Accounting/Consultants 73,900 25,000 26,650 Total Marketing and advertisement strategies: The business will be advertised through local magazines and online. Two of the options are Small Wonders and Edible Phoenix. Local First Arizona is a non-profit organization that produces publications such as “Small Wonders” and Edible Phoenix is a quarterly magazine that promotes local foods and businesses. Digital marketing is extremely important to reach a bigger client base. Utilizing social media applications such as Facebook and Twitter will be imperative since these can be accessed on a free basis. AZCentral.com also has an annual release that promotes 20 of the top food trucks in the valley. The advertisement will be targeted to the psychographic group: people that enjoy coffee, support local businesses, are tech savy, and are hip to internet trends. By creating an advertisement that is cute and entertaining, people will be interested to look at the Facebook site listed on the advertisement and view customer reviews and photos. Henry 4 Establishing a physical and digital location: Establishing a physical and digital location for the coffee truck is important to attract and retain customers. The food truck location is constantly changing. Location, as in any business, is a key factor in a food truck business' profitability since it not only depends on what space is available, but on how foot traffic opportunities are maximized. Social media is really at the core to attract the food truck enthusiast. Roaming Hunger is a website that updates the locations and hours of various food trucks. Facebook is a cheap way to market the product. And even though fictional, it takes its inspiration in the real world: the movie Chef, shows the main character’s son using Twitter to update the food truck’s location and Instagram to showcase the food. By utilizing many social media avenues we hope to attract enough customers to be profitable. There are also weekly food truck nights and farmers markets in the valley that we can participate in. Closing statements: A food truck offers the opportunity to start a small business for a fraction of the cost to set up brick and mortar restaurant. It allows more flexibility to travel where the need is and allows for options in innovation. By focusing of the needs of the consumer, we are able to provide a great cup of coffee or alternative beverage while also supporting other local businesses and the sustainable initiative. Henry 5 WORKS CITED "50 Food Truck Owners Speak Out:." FoodTruckr. Flynndustries, LLC, 01 Oct. 2013. Web. 05 Apr. 2016. Carman, Tim. "Premium Service: The Cost of Insurance Food Trucks." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 20 July 2012. Web. 02 Apr. 2016. "The Complete Breakdown of Food Truck Operation Costs." Food Truck Empire. Food Truck Empire, 10 Apr. 2014. Web. 06 Apr. 2016. Kearns, Suzanne. "10-Step Plan for How to Start a Mobile Food Truck Business." Money Crashers. SparkCharge Media, LLC, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2016. King, Steve. "Food Trucks = Business Model Innovation." 'Small Business Labs' N.p., 31 July 2012. Web. 05 Apr. 2016. "Starting & Managing a Business." He U.S. Small Business Administration, n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2016.
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