Diane Tamonte
MK351 Principles of Marketing
Professor Eron Pyles
10 November 2017
Evaluate Applied Steel’s situation. What should Applied Steel do?
First of all, Applied Steel failed due to lack of organized marketing plan from the get go. Before
starting a new product, you must first rely on primary data, which AS fall short of doing. Applied
Steel should have taken some time to do market research and familiarize itself with customers
and the industry it’s trying to serve. AS should have started with a comprehensive purpose
instead of acting out of impulse just to compete with ASX, and the profit they were going to
make upon completion of the product. But forgot to recognize that not all new product is
successful. “Identifying and developing new-product ideas-and effective strategies to go with
them-is often they keys to firm’s success and survival. But the costs of new–product
development and the risk of failure are high.” (Perreault, Cannon, & McCarthy, 2014)
Furthermore, Applied Steel went ahead and started fabricating a new structural beam without
properly implementing their plan and not even showing to their customers, as well as their
potential buyers the new specs that they’re developing. Even though Applied Steel informed
customers, and mailed out general information letters this was not enough because they forgot
that theirs’s also their top competitor.
Business owners must understand the consumer or the people that they are planning to serve
or help in order to serve them better. Applied Steel need to get out or call their perspective
buyers and start promoting their new product. Initiated a focus group of mainly their clientele
and ask them feedback or provided them a survey. AS should have initiated other marketing
strategies as well; such as used to mail out brochures to clientele with detailed plan, pictures
and flyers promoting the new product with their company’s information. The reason for this
because “informative promotion is needed to tell potential customers about the advantages