CSIT 155 Week 4 - Target Market

I choose to "start" my own business. I will call it Brian's Villa Capri Pizza in Oceanside near Camp Pendleton.

1.  Target Market - the company will focus on active duty military and their families stationed on Camp Pendleton. 

• Families living in Oceanside.
• Neighboring elementary schools for a lunch.
• Catering on base and local businesses in Oceanside.

     2. Target Market Demographic 

• Age - 18 to 40 (roughly 40,000 active duty members working daily on base) 
• Gender - male and female
• Marital status - married and single
• Family size - four 
• Income - low to middle 
• Education level - high school, some college
• Occupation - active duty military, many occupations
• Race - all races, cross section of the United States
• Religion - all religions

     3. Target Market Psycho-graphically

• Value - military discounts, military friendly environment, they want to feel welcomed.
• Hobbies/interests - like NFL, UFC/MMA, NBA, MLB, NASCAR, X-games (skateboarding, snowboarding, motocross, supercross), paintball, surfing, shooting sports, and bowling.

     4. Target Market behavioristically

• Likely to spend money on pizza on military paydays on the 1st & 15th of each month.
• Like convenience and price of big chain pizza restaurant delivery option.
• Likely to buy pizza Thursday - Sunday.

 

CSIT 155 WK.3 Aesthetics, Design & Branding Pt.2

 Roush Performance Parts: http://www.roushperformance.com/

1. Why are they effective?

• The logo is in the upper left corner and is also the "Home" button. The page is about three scroll length with good color contrasting and spacing.

     2.  What specific principles of good design do they include and why?

• The site is easy to navigate information architecture to the right of the company logo or pictures of popular parts you can view all with a horizontal slider button.
• They do this to get people to buy their products.
• They show their best selling products and profession pictures of their vehicles.
• Pictures are visually pleasing.
• The bottom right of the page has link buttons to their Facebook page, Twitter, YouTube, and FeedBurner link to their blog.
• The use multiple was to get their brand out and want customer feedback on their products.

     3. What makes you come back again?

• Their popular parts have a hyper link to a separate page with a full description, pictures, instructions for do it yourself installation, and an add to cart button with price.
• I own a 2008 Mustang with the 427R kit which was install by Roush and was covered under the Ford warranty. I have also purchased and installed new products which were a perfect fit and easy to install. They also have a very good customer service department for questions about products before buying.

     4. What could be improved?

• I would make the ribbon of buttons across the top have a drop down menu.
• I would add more how to type videos in their video section.

SiriusXM satellite radio: http://www.siriusxm.com/

      1. Why are they effective?

• Clear labeling, easy to read font and the logo is in top left of website.

      2. What specific principles of good design do they include and why?

• Good color contrast, three columns, and easy to read font. Good use of proximity.
• They're trying to get people to explore their content. 
• Tell people about their product.

      3. What makes you come back again? 

• Easy to find program schedule, commercial free music, smart phone application, and idea for long road trips.

     4. What could be improved?

• I wouldn't change the website.

CSIT 155 WK.3 Aesthetics, Design & Branding

The two websites I see as potential problems for visitors are http://tectorch.com/ and http://www.richsoil.com/raising-chickens.jsp .

Tec Welding Products, Inc. website does not menu that follows the information architecture (IA) format that common with most websites. The site is not visually pleasing it looks busy for example the company history is right at the top and it looks misaligned. The address for the company is a post office box, no physical address in San Marcos or a google map pin with location.

Permaculture Articles looks unprofessional and confusing. I'm not sure if this site is strictly for information like  a blog or are they selling me something. I don't know if this is the home page or not. Information architecture to the left is confusing like an inside joke for a close net group I'm not aware of. Website name doesn't match name of actual site.

Tec Welding Products, Inc. I would change the first to an e-commerce style instead of brochure style. I would used IA format in the Online Marketing, page 33, figure 3.1 and also add a shopping cart button with PayPal. If you click on products you get a description without the option to buy, I not sure how to purchase their products. Add buttons for Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube at the bottom of page like Ford and Toyota.

They have clear pictures and clear descriptions of their products.

The design of the site is generic and  the company logo TEC should stand out with bright colors. The company's brand in not memorable.

Permaculture Articles. I would organized the page with different categories maybe use a drop down menu, make it a brochure style site, and use IA format.

The author has a link to his pod casts.

The design is plain, disorganized and I don't know if this site has a brand.

CSIT155 WK2: Communication between Business & Consumer

About three years ago I bought a SiriusXM satellite radio for my new car. Once installed and ready to go you have to call to activate your subscription. The automated system this company used to activate the radio was virtually useless. This system would make you think Siri on the iPhone a mind reader. You couldn't just type in the identification information from you radio into your phone. The system has you say the numbers and letters. The thing is I don't have an accent or a speech impediment, so the system should work correctly. After about six attempts I decided to navigate my way back to the main menu and wait on hold to talk to a live person. After about a thirty minute wait on hold a customer service person answer and inform me that the phone call may be recorded. I first complain to the customer service person by saying "the automated system is useless" and "why do they have it if it doesn't work?" He apologized and helped me activate my satellite radio.

I've never used social media to communicate a problem with a company. I like to contact a company directly if possible. I've noticed that liking companies on Facebook leads to mini advertisements similar to my likes.

I do believe that social media has a significant impact on keeping customers happy and gaining new customers through "word of mouth" via social media. I have an indifferent experience because I have not complained or praised a company through social media. Should I communicate future grievances through social media to let all my friends or acquaintances know how I feel about my experience with a certain company? Or is it better to complain directly to the company and on social media? I think now it may be better to complain directly and through social media with whether or not the company satisfied my problem. If I complained on a social media site about my experience with SiriusXM would it have fix my problem any faster? Probably not, but I'm sure they would have sent me a survey through e-mail or an automated survey by phone. The company periodically sends out surveys through e-mail.