Trap-Ease America

1. I feel Martha and the Trap-Ease America investors need to do some strategic planning- the process of developing and maintaining a strategic fit between the organization’s goals and capabilities and its changing marketing opportunities. This would set the stage for the rest of the planning. I do not think Martha has done enough research into the market to really assess whether the demand for her product would be there. Martha needs to think about her marketing concept, which is a philosophy that holds that achieving organizational goals depends on knowing the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions better than competitors do. The group’s mission statement acts as an “invisible hand” that guides people in the organization. To come up with a mission statement one must answer the following questions: What is our business? Who is the customer? What do consumers value? What should our business be? The group’s mission statement would probable read, “To catch the pest, you need the best- Trap-Ease.” They seem to be product-oriented instead of market-oriented. A more appropriate mission statement would be, “Continuously working to better serve your pest elimination needs- safely and humanely.”
2. I feel Martha’s early research was pretty good. She felt targeting women was the best target market for Trap-Ease. Women generally do not like the mess of mousetraps or the risk of poison for the children or animals in the household. The market consists of many types of customers, products, and needs. The marketer must determine which segments offer the best opportunities. Consumers can be grouped and served in various ways based on geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral factors. The process of dividing a market in distinct groups is called market segmentation. As Martha stated her “early” research suggested women were the best target market. As we know, we must adapt and change with our target market.