In Response to Jackie's Post...

If you are just as shocked as me, read the article. There really are people like this out there that do take brand loyalty this seriously. What do you think? Do you know someone with a brand logo tattoo? Would you, yourself ever consider getting one?

The question I chose to respond to this week was an article Jackie talked about. In the article it talks about how people are actually putting band names on their body. And by body I don't mean their clothing but ink. The article talked about how people are so loyal to a brand that they would get it tattooed on their body. I do not think I would be so loyal to a brand to get their logo permanently on my body. For example, my favorite clothes brand is American Eagle. Their logo entitles a small eagle that is placed on almost all of their clothing. Just because that clothing is my favorite brand, I am not going to get it tattooed on my body. There are many different interests within people so I can see why someone may want to get a brand tattooed on them. I do know one person that has the logo for a band tattooed on their body. They still like that the tattoo and she didn't have any regrets. In a way this is a type of marketing strategy for the company's logo. For example the person I know that got the band logo tattoo, has it in a sport where it's visible in a bathing suit. In a way she is giving that band free advertising since many people at the beach would see it. All in all, I personally wouldn't get a logo tattooed on my body. The only type of tattoo I would get is something that actually means something to me. Do you believe that the people that get logos of company's tattooed on them do it out of impulse, or do you believe they truly showing brand loyalty?

Sales Promotion Methods

Within the marketing mix, promotion is an important variable that if used correctly, can increase the profits and the number of consumers for that product or service. There are many consider and trade sales promotion methods that an organization can use. The use of consumer sales promotion is to encourage the public to try a particular product. Another type of promotion a company could use are coupons and cents-off offers. Coupons could be used to increase sales volume from repeat customers by lowering their products price with the coupon. This could be beneficial for the firm if the coupons increased the number of sales. It could also have negative aspects, such as not many people using the coupon. Coupons in a magazine would also be an advertisement for your firm. With the cents-off offer, the customer would pay a less amount that is originally displayed on the tag. This could get customers purchasing the item if they think its worth it at the lowered price. Money refunds are also a type of promotion. This is where a customer sends in something that says proof of purchase and then are mailed a specific amount of money back. Rebates (which are similar), is when the customer is sent a specific amount of money for making a single purchase. Most rebates are delayed, causing the customer to have to wait for the discount because it takes time for the customer to receive the discount. Frequent-user incentives are good ways to keep customers to return to your company. This is when a firm makes incentive programs to reward repeat customers. For example, at price chopper they offer an advantage card. That entitles the customer to get discounts on sale items and receive points to get so many cents off a gallon of gas at Sunoco. The more you spend the more rewards the customer will get towards gas. Do you think it is important for a firm to come up with a different promotional method than its competitors, to give them a competitive advantage?

In Response to Sam's Post...

Starting a show at 9:28 clearly separates it from any other show, and makes it very easy to remember. Do you think this idea was as brilliant as I do? Do you think it will actually help viewers to remember what time the show is on? Do you have any other ideas for how to get viewers to watch your show?

The idea to start this show was a great marketing strategy. Like Same had mentioned, it separates the television show from its competitors. Most people start their shows exactly on the hour or half hour, but by announcing the show will be on at 9:28. More people who are first time watchers will easily remember the show by it starting two minutes before all other shows. This is a great strategy even if they do not announce it to the viewers. From experience, one of my shows when I was younger was on the WB and started at 9 o' clock. I am the type of person that is always antsy when commercials are on and flip through stations until my show returns back on. By doing this I noticed that my show started about two minutes before the time it was supposed to start. I realized week after week the show was on it always started before other shows on channels above and below it. I think another idea to get viewers to watch my show would be to advertise short commercials. I know for me personally, I dislike long commercials. If a show advertised how short the commercials were I may be tempted to watch the program. Do you think it is important to be always finding new advertising strategies for television shows. Do you think viewers get sick of the same shows if there are many seasons of the show?

Channel-Selection Decisions

When a firm is selecting marketing channels, there are many factors that may be affected by this decision. The factors consist of customer characteristics, product attributes, type of organization, competition, marketing environment forces and characteristics of intermediaries. A marketing firm should consider the target-market members when selecting a channel. The correct channel should be chosen to benefit the customer. For example, a customer buying hardwood floors for commercial buildings compared with a person buying hardwood floors for there home. The person selecting the flooring for their home would probably want to talk with the producers directly. The next factor that could be affected is the product attributes. The type of product you are selling has an influence on the type of channel the firm will choose. For example if a company sells produce they would choose a short channel because their product can go bad at a faster rate than other products. Also, fragile products are usually distributed through shorter channels to reduce the risk of damage to the product. The type of organization also influences the decision to choose short or longer channels. For large firms it may be more beneficial to choose large channels and the company may be able to negotiate deals with the vendors. Supply-chain managers should take competition into consideration. Another companies failure or success given their marketing channel can give your firm an idea whether or not to use the same type of channel for your firm. Marketing environment forces play a role in channel selection also. Bad economic considerations could cause a firm to use the channel that is the most cost effective for the company. Also, the advancement of technology could cause a firm to move to a shorter channel by using technology (such as computer software/Internet). The last factor is the characteristics of intermediaries. If a company doesn't feel as though their products are being promoted, the organization may choose a new channel to change that. If you were a small business, would you use a small marketing channel or a larger one?

In Response to Gretchen's Post...

Do you think exclusive brands are better than non-exclusive brands? Why or why not do you like them? Is the quality of these products actually better than not exclusive items? Have you ever been disappointed with a exclusive brands?

There is no way I could say that for every situation exclusive brands are better than non-exclusive brands. I personally had experience an instance where an exclusive brand didn't have the quality I had expected it to have. This happened when I bought a shirt from Abercrombie and Fitch, which is known for having moderately expensive clothes. After having the shirt for about a month, there was visible ware and tare. I believe the ware and tare was from the washer machine, which shouldn't cause the shirt to get holes. Where as on the other hand I had bought a nice polo type shirt from Wal-Mart that had lasted longer than this. So based from this personal instance I can't say that exclusive brands are better than others. In some cases exclusive brands are better than some non-exclusive brands. For example, I only get my jeans from American Eagle. I had noticed that my jeans from American Eagle have always lasted a lot longer than other competitors. When it comes to medication, generic vs. non generic, I believe not one is better than the other. For example, Advil is probably one of the most expensive pain reliever. There are generic brands such as equate, that have the exact same ingredients that Advil has. In this situation I do not believe Advil is any different than the generic brand. They are both the exact same thing, just one is more expensive than the other. There are some cases that I do believe exclusive brands are higher quality than non- exclusive brands. For example, an electric Braun razor I had purchased was fairly expensive. It has lasted me a long time and works really well. Where as the razor I had prior to this had broke after four months and was a non-exclusive brand. Also, the razor didn't work well at all. In this case the exclusive brand was overall better than the non-exclusive brand. Do you agree that within the medicine industry generic brands are just as good as non-generic brands?

Pricing

Pricing is an important variable to the marketing mix. When it comes to product decisions, price is a key component. There are many pricing objectives, there are seven that come in this category. The pricing objectives consists of the survival of the product, profit, return on investment, market share, cash flows, status quo and product quality. When any price is set the firm must evaluate competitors prices. Find out information about competitors prices is apart of market research. It is very important for a firm to know what their competitors prices are. By knowing competitors prices it helps marketers to set competitive prices for their products. Sometimes, depending upon the product, it can be an advantage to set your price at a higher price than their competitors and at a lower price than their competitors. For example, Fuji water is viewed as a pure, elegant type of water. The price of Fuji water is much more expensive than say poland springs. Since the price is higher than most competitors, customers will think that Fuji water is "better" than the poland springs water. There are both different dimensions to pricing as well as a basis for pricing. The three different dimensions of pricing consists of cost, demand and competition. The bases for prices are made up of the type of product, the market structure of the industry, the brands market share relative to competing brands, and the customer characteristics. There are also three different types of cost-based pricing. Cost-based pricing is the dollar amount to the cost of the product. Cost-plus pricing is adding a specified dollar amount to the seller's cost. Lastly, markup is adding to the cost of the product a predetermined percentage of that cost. If a company didn't conduct any research before pricing their product do you think the product will be a success or failure?

In Response to Sarah's Post...

Have u experienced all of these steps before? Have you had any cognitive dissonance? If so what was it and what did you do, did you keep the product, give it to a friend, or return it?

I have experienced all of the steps in the buying decision process. Whenever I buy anything I usually subconsciously go through the five buying decision stages. For example I use this process when I go to the grocery store. An example I recently ran into was when the grocery store was out of my typical brand of bread and needed to buy another brand. The first step was already completed after my problem occurred, where the usual bread was out of stock. In step two, my information search kicked in immediately. The first thing I thought of was the difference in the other brands that I had used in the past. Step three occurred right away also, comparing the different brands and prices. Step four occurred when I purchased the store brand bread. In step five, I evaluated the bread after I had eating this specific type for the first time. Personally I wouldn't buy the store brand again. It wasn't terrible, just not something I would buy on a regular basis. I have also experienced cognitive dissonance. When I was at best buy I saw a pair of headphones that I really liked. I also needed headphones, so I made an impulse decision to buy the headphones. The headphones worked great and I didn't regret buying them until I went to Walmart. Walmart had the same exact set of headphones for much cheaper than best buy. I regretted not shopping around for the cheapest ones rather than making the impulse decision. Do you think it's more important to shop around for the cheapest price rather than buy on impulse?

Buying Behavior: Attittudes

Attitudes of consumers are very important for marketers to take into consideration. According to Marketing Express, attitude is described as an individuals evaluation of, feelings about , and behavioral tendencies toward a specific object or idea. These objects can be any attitudes toward something that can be living, nonliving, tangible or intangible. It is important to know that attitudes do change but they tend to stay stable and not vary from moment to moment. Every individuals attitudes are acquired through experience and interaction with other people. There are three major parts an attitude is made up of. The three parts are cognitive, affective, and behavioral. The cognitive part is made up of the person's knowledge about the idea or object. The affective part is mad up of the person's emotions toward the object or idea. Lastly, the behavioral part is made up of the person's actions regarding the object or idea. If there are changes within one of these components it is possible that it could alter another component. It is important for any marketing firm to measure consumer attitudes toward package designs, advertisements, prices, brand names, salespeople, repair services, store locations and social responsibility efforts. There are a few different ways markets can measure consumers attitudes. The first way is to measure consumers attitudes is to just ask them directly. Using this method could have some flaws. People who do not like confrontation may lie about their real attitudes toward the subject. Another way marketers can measure consumer attitudes is by using the attitude scale. An attitude scale is made up of a series of adjectives, sentences, or phrases about an object. The consumer indicate their feelings about the object by reacting to the phrases, sentences, or adjectives in a certain way. Business and non business organizations will try to change peoples attitudes about various issues. This can range from health and safety issues to prices and product features. It's important for any firm to know the attitudes of their consumers to sell your product or service the way the majority of people want it. The four P's of the marketing mix are also important factors to take into consideration. Like illustrated in the picture you want your target market to have a positive attitude involving the marketing mix. Do you think it is important to learn the attitudes of consumers if you worked in a marketing firm?

In Response to Sarah's Post...

Why might it be important to have these be important to take into consideration when conducting a sample?

Like you stated with sampling comes error. The two types of sampling error you must take into consideration are sampling error and non sampling error. Like you said sampling error is the difference between the true (unknown value) of the target population and the sample estimate. Any firm should take this type of error into consideration. During any type of sampling you cannot get the population as a whole to sample, which can be a downfall. They may get false information in buying behavior with sampling error. Because the lack of getting the population as a whole, you may be sampling a bunch of people who have the same buying behavior. But in fact the majority has a completely different buying behavior but was not sampled. The other type of sampling error you mentioned is non sampling error. As you stated this sampling error measurement errors. This can range from people making exaggerations, false statement, or collecting bias information. For any firm this is also very important information to consider when sampling. When conducting a sample a firm may want to change the wording around so it wouldn't make them sound rude. The main reason why you must take this into consideration is because you can get completely false results and create a new product customers do not buy. This could be detrimental to a company if they made a costly business decision with off of sampling containing sampling errors. Overall sampling must be done to get some idea of what new products and services should be created. Do you think sampling will ever be truly one-hundred percent accurate?

Business Buying Decision Stages

In any marketing firm there should be a set of steps taken when a business is making buying decision. The first stage when a marketing firm is making a decision is when at least one person recognizes there is a problem or a need is present. There are many different ways to find problems in the business. For example some if a machine malfunctions, it then may be modified or disposed of. The second stage of the process is the development of specifics relating to a product. Then the buying center participants look at the problem or need and determine the correct actions to solve the problem. The third stage of the business buying decision process is to search for and evaluate potential suppliers and products. This can involve looking at trade directories, contacting suppliers for recent information and even soliciting vendors proposals. In this stage some firms use value analysis. Value analysis is the evaluation of the quality, design and materials to acquire the product in the best cost-effective way. Some vendors even employ vendor analysis. This a systematic evaluation of both current and potential vendor's based on using the marketing mix. Lastly, the forth stage of the business buying decision process is selecting the product to that should be purchased and which supplier to buy from. Sometimes the buyer may select from more than one supplier which is known as multiple outsourcing. Most others use sole sourcing which is using one supplier. For any firm business decisions are very important factors and should take steps before jumping into a buying decision. (Pride,2009) Do you think businesses should just jump into buying decisions if the deal sounds good, or do you think they should take their time and use the analysis of these four steps?

In Response to Laura's post...

Should we be more careful when it comes to sharing information online? Or do you think that this information will inevitably be found when scouring the web? And do you share/post a lot of your own personal information online? Why or why not?

Personal information being available on the Internet has been one of the greatest advances in technology, but one of the most risky at the same time. With information being on the Internet it can bring unwanted things, such as credit card information stolen to being stalked. I do think everyone should be more careful when sharing information online. Like Laura said, it is important to make more stuff on networking sites private, because you really don't know who's actually looking at your information. Recently my family told me about how easy it is to access information online. With just the click of a button and my name in the name field, I was able to view a lot of information that I thought was private. It listed my mothers name, fathers name, sisters name, our house phone number, and our exact mailing location. At first I thought it was illegal, but when I did some research I found out that it was in fact "public information" that is able to be found anywhere. This really stunned me. As for stalkers they can easily access your information for free on the Internet. After this circumstance I do believe personal information can be found on the Internet. As for private information such as social security numbers etc. I do not believe that will be posted on the Internet. As for myself posting my own personal information online, I do but not a lot. On my facebook page I do not have my full birth date like Laura. I also set almost all of my stuff to private so my friends are the only ones that are able to view my personal information. I do not list my address or any direct contact information. The only flaw to making my profile private is the ability for one to hack into my profile and see the information. People can also track where you are by your ISP address in your computer. I have already seen in the news that this is causing problems. Not only were people being stalked to where they drove to but they could also be found through their ISP address. Do you believe that eventually there will not be privacy what so ever?

Psychological Influences on the Buying Decision Process

There are many psychological influences on the customer during their decision when buying a product. According to Marketing Express, psychological influences determines people's general behavior and influence their behavior as consumers. The main psychological influences on consumer behavior are perception, motives, learning, attitudes, personality, self concept and lifestyles. When a customer is perceiving, this is the process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting information inputs to produce a meaning. These information inputs are received through the five senses. Perception has a three step process to it. The first is selective exposure, where the consumer is selecting inputs to be exposed to their awareness and ignoring others. The second is selective distortion. With this, a customer changes and twists information when it is inconsistent with their own opinion. The last is selective retention. A person would be doing this if they were only remembering information inputs that supports their decision. Motives are the second type of psychological influences. Motives are internal energy force that brings a persons behavior to satisfy needs. Patron motives are important for any marketer. Since these motives influence where a person purchases products on a regular basis, means a new firm must come up with new ideas to get them to shop at their company. Learning is also a psychological influence. Any firm would want the consumer to learn only the best things about the firm. If a consumer learns new information they are happy with, it can attract more customers to the company. Attitudes are also psychological influences. Since customers have different preferences, their attitude could be beneficial to your company or not. A way to measure consumer attitudes is through the attitude scale. Ones personality and self concept are also psychological influences in the buying decision process. Once again, based on the different preferences of the customer may or may not attract them to your company. Lifestyle is the last psychological influence. Lifestyle is an individuals pattern of living expressed through their interests and opinions. For an example of this, if you are coming out with a new very high end retail store. You may want to locate yourself in a place where there is a high standard of living, like New York city. Do you think psychological influences are an important aspect if you are working in the marketing industry?

In Response to Laura's Post...

Do you think that people are more likely to be honest in online, mailed or face-to-face surveys? Why?

Laura made some good points in her argument about surveys. I also agree with you that there are always going to be the people who are dishonest on there surveys. Whether they are just filling out the survey to be eligible for a possible prize or even if the person is just bored filling out random answers. Today when I was shopping for my trip to California I bought some new headphones from best buy. When the cashier finally tendered by order, she gave me the receipt saying "if possible please go to the website on the receipt and fill out the survey. You will be eligible for a cash prize if you fill out the survey." I see a couple things wrong with this reward system. I feel as though the people who think the reward is worth taking the time to fill out the survey will be the only respondents. Since only the select people who think the prize is worth the survey will be measured, makes the survey somewhat inaccurate. Referring back to the question, I believe it depends on the situation to whether or not people will more honest on a survey. For example, if you are having a face-to-face survey, and you have nothing truly bad to say, then the person will be 100% honest. But, at the same time if the customer is nervous to give negative feedback they may be dishonest in their answer. I think the mail-in survey would be the most valuable for a company. The person would have to take the time to fill it out and mail it in. If this customer has negative feedback, they may feel better without being confrontational (face-to-face). The only reason why I do not believe people will be as honest with online surveys is because people can just "click away". By click away, I mean that anyone on the Internet, bored or not, can just click a million random answers and then just click the submit button. On top of that this person would be able to easily fill out more than one of the same survey and keep submitting them. I do believe that the mail-in surveys are the surveys where most people will be honest. Do you think it is worth having an online survey with more customer feedback is more beneficial than mail-in surveys with less customer feedback? Do you believe the online surveys could be from one person taking the survey multiple times?

Surveys for Marketers

Any marketing organization must know the wants and needs of customer. It is important for the marketing firm to come up with different ways to obtain this important information. Surveys can be an ideal way to get customer feedback. In the marketing industry there are different types of surveys to forecast the customers wants and needs. There are four different types of survey techniques listed in our textbook, Marketing Express. The first type of survey useful to marketers is the customer forecasting survey. The customer forecasting survey is a survey used to find out the types and quantities of products the customer is intending to buy in a specific period of time. This survey is useful for marketers regarding ordering products within a time period. It can tell a firm whether or not to increase production of the product, not buy as much of the product, or even tell a firm to continue with the current ordering quantities. Also, it gives the marketing firm a period of time when it should be important to manufacture more of the product, or not. The second type of survey used in the marketing industry is the sales force forecasting survey. This is a survey of the firm's sales force regarding anticipated sales in their territories for a specific period. This survey differs from the first because this survey is using forecasting techniques in the firm, and doesn't need to go outside the firm for this survey to be completed. This is done by the forecaster combining the territorial estimates to arrive at a tentative forecast. Instead of surveying customers, the firm would survey the sales staff. The advantage to this method is that it can be prepared for a single region, several regions and can even divide consisting territories. The third type of survey is the expert forecasting survey. Within this survey Sales forecasts are prepared by experts like economists, management consultants, advertising executives, college professors, or other persons outside the firm. This survey gives the firm information about the company and the market. The experts prepare and present forecasts. The last and final survey is the Delphi technique. This type of survey is a procedure in where experts create initial forecasts, submit them to the company for averaging, and then refine the forecast. The benefit to this technique is that the experts will use averaged results when making refined forecasts, therefor creating a narrower range. All of these types of surveys can prevent the company from doing projects that are costly, that in fact actually do not need to be done. If marketing firms did not conduct surveys, do you believe the firm may spend more money at unnecessary times?

In Response to David's Post...

What do you think, is it worth keeping the good reputation and not violating as many part of the Statement of Ethics by laying off the workers, or would you sell the numbers to keep bread on your employees tables?

In my opinion I do not think John should sell the names. Like you said, John violates a few categories in the statement of ethics. Since marketers should follow these ethics it would be immoral to break them. As for the workers, if it's necessary for the company to move forward by laying off some workers then it must be done. When you are in any business your objective is to do whatever is best for the business as a whole. Not necessarily what's best for every individual person who works there. Sometimes you must separate personal matters with business matters to come up with the best solution for your company. If John did not want to fire any employees or sell the names, he could possibly work something out. John would have to take the initiative to come up with a tactical way for the firm to make money. This could be anything from developing new marketing strategies, or some type of community service. John could collect donations for a charity where 50% of their donations go to the charity and the other 50% goes to the company that the customer is loyal to. But if all else fails John must take the action to lay off some of his employees. Although personal relationships are very important in any organization, it must not reflect what is beneficial for the company as a whole. I was a witness to this for myself personally. At my job, there was a time when they were selecting certain people to receive less hours due to the recession. Some of the other co-workers were full time employees providing for their family, similar to the people in John's situation. As time went on more and more full time employees were losing hours. I believe this was a wise choice for the place I work. Instead of completely ridding them from the company, they gave them less hours. The may have needed more hours but it was necessary to cut some employees hours. It was beneficial for the company as a whole to cut hours, which is why I agree with that decision. Do you believe you should take personal emotions into consideration when making important business decisions?

John Smith Scenario

Should John Smith sell the names? Does the AMA Statement of Ethics address this issue? Go to AMA website; look at their Statement of Ethics; write a blog posting on what the AMA Statement of Ethics contains that relates to John Smith’s dilemma.

John Smith should not sell the names. The American Marketing Association Statement of Ethics broadly addresses this issue. First off, the statement of ethics is a list of ethical norms and values that marketers should follow. In this specific case, it relates to "foster trust in the marketing system", listed under ethical norms. What this means is that marketers should be striving to do what's best in good faith as well as avoiding deception in pricing, product design, and communication. In the scenario it states that he could potentially be selling personal information to another company without their consent. In doing this he would be violating the the ethical norm having to do with having trust in your company. Just from the introduction to the Statement of Ethics site alone shows he shouldn't make this deal and deceive his customers.

There are also other places within the statement of ethics that are relevant to this scenario. Listed under the ethical values section is honesty. It states in this section that marketers should strive to be truthful in all situations and at all time. This is relevant because if John goes along with this deal he will break this code. Unless John told the people who filled out the survey that their information may be distributed, that would be fine. By not listing that on the survey he would be dishonest by selling their information without their consent. Also under ethical values is fairness. In this section it is stated that marketers should avoid knowing participation in conflicts of interest and seek to protect the private information of customers, employees and partners. John would be breaking this code also if he went through with the deal. He would not be protected his customers personal information only for his benefit.

Since John would be breaking many codes within the American Marketers Association Statement of ethics he should not sell the names for $8,000. Right of the bat you would be able to tell he is breaking the code "foster trust in the marketing system" listed at the top of the website. It would not be right of John Smith to break this ethical norm. Also, he would break ethical values going along with this decision. This would include breaking the honesty and fairness codes. My immediate reaction to this question was yes. The reason for this was because John Smith needed the money for himself and his employees. But after doing some research on the American Marketers Association website it was clear this would be an unethical action. Do you believe it is unethical for a company to give personal information out, such as this instance, if their is fine print at the bottom stating that your information may be distributed?

In Response to Chris French's Post...

"E-Marketing- Friend or Foe?"- Do you agree that these traditional forms of marketing should be kept in place? What other problems to you think of in the advent of e-marketing? Do you think appreciation marketing really works?

Like everything, there are benefits and risks with e-marketing. The traditional forms of marketing are greatly beneficial for a company to excel. There is much less room for error using traditional forms of marketing. I believe that the traditional forms of marketing should be kept in place. Like it was stated in the article, many people accidentally delete or never receive an important e-mail from a company. With the use of traditional marketing, there isn't any way an individual can delete a letter from a company. Granted, there mail could be lost or stolen, but the chances of that happening are very slim. Traditional marketing should be kept in place because of the problems that could come along with e-marketing. E-marketing can be a huge risk due to the fact that one is relying on electronics to market their company and distribute information. Technology always has risks due to system failures. If a company is relying on a computer, there is much room for error. This company could potentially lose valuable information such as customer information, contact information, company information and even lose items that are still in the works, but stored on the computer. If a company used purely the computer to keep track of all information for the company, a system failure would be a huge negative impact. Not only would the company not be able to contact their customers, but they could lose business as well. I don't believe traditional marketing will be completely eliminated anytime soon, but eventually in many years that may be seen. Another reason why the traditional approach should remain, is the benefits of appreciation marketing. I know for me personally, I enjoy receiving letters from company's that I use. The appreciation letters seem more personable than an e-mail in your inbox. Do you believe a simple appreciation letter could sway a first time customer, who doesn't know whether or not they want to use that company again?

Traditional Marketing vs. E-Marketing

The evolution of technology has created many opportunities for marketers. Within the past eight years alone, there have been many upgrades in the marketing industry. For example, on Valentines Day, my sister and her husband were on an electronic bulletin board in New York City. The company they were promoting was Walgreens (as shown above) with their slogan, “share a kiss in Times Square”. My sister lives in Yucca Valley, California and was able to get herself on a bulletin board in Times Square through Walgreen's usage of E-marketing. About eight years ago it would probably be rare to see something like this.

Based on the article “Firms Hold Fast to Snail Mail Marketing”, it seems at this point in time that direct mail is more beneficial than e-mail. Like it said in the article, many people who get the e-mail rather than the “snail mail” may accidentally delete their letter. Since most e-mail accounts now have spam control, it is easily to delete something that is placed in the spam mailbox. I know for me personally, I rarely check what is actually in the spam mailbox before deleting the contents. Also, “snail mail” has the benefit of being more personable with your customer. Not only that, but “snail mail” leaves much less room for being thrown out or deleted, since most people check their mail daily.

Based upon the article, “From Print to Phone to Web. And a Sale?” the usage of barcodes in various magazines seems very beneficial at a glance. All any customer has to have available to them is a camera phone to take the picture. This seems like a very good idea to focus on the product variable in the marketing mix. This technique isn’t quite as personal as talking on the phone, or receiving letters, but the main focus is on the product. The only thing to consider when using this barcode idea is your target market. I know from personal experience that my mother doesn’t even know how to text message, let along scan a barcode on her phone. I believe if the target market is for the younger generations (where technology is everything); the company can make a lot of money.

I think E-Marketing will eventually take over traditional forms of marketing. I don’t think it will be extremely soon, but I do see it eventually happening. Since every generation learns about more and more technological advances, there will be no need for traditional marketing. Another company that would benefit from using the traditional marketing approaches would be the United States Postal Service. This company relies on other companies to use “snail mail” to make profits and provide jobs. A good example of E-Marketing would be Canobie Lake Park (where I work). Since the park will be opening for the season in April, the park must hire back as many prior employees as possible. They do this using “snail mail”, then if you agree to have the rest of the information sent be e-mail, you can do so. It is much easier filling out the paperwork online then e-mailing it back to them rather than using the postal service. If E-Marketing took over the mailing industry, do you believe it would put many people who work for the United States Postal Service out of work?

In response to Bruce Wichland post...

Is this his road to recovery? Why is Tiger’s image suffering so much? Is it because he is in a different sport (as opposed to the NFL and NBA)? Do you agree that Tiger’s image should have been pulled off the market and do you agree that he should have lost his endorsements? Will he ever have the same appeal?

Tiger Woods speaking on his behalf about the incident on national television could be the beginning of the road to recovery for him. Since the incidents that occurred with Tiger Woods it was clear right away that it would hurt his image. The primary reason why I believe his image is suffering so much is because the companies Tiger represents are presenting him as a role model. For these marketers it would be hard to keep Tiger in their company and market him as a role model when he made unethical mistakes. These companies he represents probability believe it wouldn't be socially responsible to continue marketing him. I don't believe that him being a professional golfer, opposed to a professional basketball player, is the reason why his image is suffering so much. I believe for the time being Tiger Woods should be pulled off the market from what he did. For me personally, if I were marketing some kind of celebrity, they would have to only promote my product or service positively. If there were any negative issues coming along with this celebrity that could hurt the product i'm marketing, they would indeed be fired. I believe Tiger could eventually get the same appeal to the public that he once had. Everyone makes mistakes, his mistakes are just posted for the world to see because of his fame. With this short time period since the incident passed, I believe so many people already forgot about it. With that I come to the concusion that his reputation will be restored to what it once was. Do you believe that Tiger Woods' affair increased the profits for gossip programs such as "E!"?

Marketing Research

The marketing research process used to maintain control over company and collect the most accurate information possible. To go through the marketing research process there are a series of stops marketers should follow. According to Marketing Express the five steps include "(1) locating and defining issues on problems, (2) designing the search project, (3) collecting data, (4) interpreting research findings, (5) reporting research findings." (Pride,118). When a company is designing the research project, it is crucial for marketers to know all of the different types of research. The four types of research are exploratory research, conclusive research, descriptive research and experimental research. Exploratory research is when marketers require the need for more information about a problem to come up with a hypothesis. Conclusive research is used to verify their research through a procedure to help the marketers make decisions. Descriptive research is used to clarify specific phenomena to help solve the problem. Experimental research is used to help make relationships when figuring out a problem. All of these research practices for marketers are ideal to your firm. There are different types of ways marketers should figure out problems in the marketing industry. Lastly, marketers must know which information is reliable and valid. Most people don't believe there is a difference between the two but there is a clear line. If something is valid, your research method is measuring what it is supposed to measure. When something is reliable, it gives you the same information every time, whether it is accurate or not. (Pride, 121) If marketers didn't use The Marketing Research Process, do you believe it would take longer to figure out marketing problems?

In response to Mallory Beam's post...

Do you feel as if marketers are going to become more ethically and socially responsible in the future or stay focused on strictly making money?

Marketing is all about getting your product or service out there and creating a way to attract their target customers. With marketing I believe it is very important to be focused on making money. If that wasn't the case many companies wouldn't spend so much money on their marketing department to get little or no return. At the same time marketers should be conducting in ethical and socially responsible behavior. Not everyone has the same prospective to socially responsible behavior. For example, some people believe it is not socially responsible to be a CEO of a cigarette company because the health risks associated in that industry towards their customers. But at the same time, some people may believe that his position an job industry is ethical. There are so many dimensions to ethics and social responsibility that it's hard to say if marketers will take the money and run or car about their customers. In my personal opinion I think within the laws and regulations in a company, it may force them to practice in a more ethical manor. A thing to think about with laws and regulations are the loop holes. I truly believe marketers can be ethical/socially responsible and still want a high return in profits. No matter what the unethical marketers will always be in our society unfortunately. Do you think marketers are always trying to find the loop holes to act socially irresponsible or, do you think they follow the laws and regulations of the firm to a T?

E-Marketing

Electronic marketing is increasingly becoming more and more popular over the years. The advancement in technology has helped the marketing industry greatly. According to Marketing Express, the percentage of U.S adults who use e-mail and search engines is 91%. Not only is almost everyone connected to the internet by the basics, but also for other miscellaneous reasons. A high percentage of U.S adults also use the internet to check the weather or even get directions off a website. (Pride, 72) Since people all over the world use the computer everyday, a door is opened up for electronic marketing. There are some things within the marketing mix that needs to be addressed with electronic marketing.

Place is an important aspect if one is going to take part in E-Marketing. Things that need to be taken into consideration when E-marketing is the target market. You must ask yourself where the product or service you are selling should be placed. This is important because you wouldn't want to market a product to someone who isn't interested. For example, if I were to market diapers, I wouldn't place my advertisement or marketing plan on a website for young kids. E-Marketing is more convenient than other types of marketing, and can be seen by millions of people. For example if there is an advertisement for a bank in Keene, N.H, someone in California definitely wouldn't see the advertisement. Also, E-marketing touches upon the price aspect of the marketing mix. The price to market online could possibly be less expensive than to market on a commercial or billboard.

Promotion is also important when it comes to E-Marketing. The company promoting the product must find a way to catch the attention of potential customers. This can be done in various ways over the internet. A company could even attach a game to an advertisement temping the viewer to click on it, then being brought to the product or service. Promoting your product online can actually be easier than any other way and can be seen by so many more people. A company could offer special offers and send their customers e-mail alerts about these special offers. Then the customer can buy the product or service at the click of a button.

All in all Electronic marketing did help the marketing world. There are some risks for the customers when it comes to electronic marketing. These risks would include something that seems something that it's not. For example my computer was infested with spyware. The program that infected me with the spyware was the program telling me to buy some type of anti-virus software. This is unfair for the customer, but the company can scam people into buying their product to rid what they in fact gave them. Do you believe these scams companies do to their customers is socially responsible marketing?

This is in response to Laura Beisswanger's post: Environmentalism & Marketing

Laura, you have come up with some great points presenting environmentalism as a threat to marketers. I didn't really consider all the research, time and money to create more "eco-friendly" products. But at the same time, I feel businesses will still be highly profitable after they come out with their "eco-friendly" products. Like you stated people like to feel better about themselves by purchasing more "eco-friendly" products. This gives the company an upper hand when customers are purchasing their products. In my opinion, companies who are taking steps to go "green" are creating many more opportunities rather than threats in the marketing industry. For an example, when the new poland springs water bottles came out they were a big hit. Many of us students were buying this specific water bottle. Since poland springs ideas about the water bottles was a success, almost all of their competitors copied their ideas. I completely agree with your viewpoint about companies not going completely green. But, they are taking steps in creating a "greener" product in which they can market, creating a larger target market. Your question at the end of your blog is an interesting one. I believe the reason why it took businesses so long to take the initiative to help preserve the environment is because the current issues with global warming. As time goes on, more and more people are understanding the effects of greenhouse gasses on our environment, thus opening the door for marketing strategies for greener products. Do you believe companies are making "greener" products solely for the environment or to create more income?

Opportunity or Threat?

"Is environmentalism more of an opportunity or threat for marketers?" Try to find an instance where environmentalism either helped or hurt marketing efforts. Take a stand one way or the other on this question and support your conclusion.

Environmentalism has been an increasingly talked about topic around the world. In the marketing industry people may believe this can be a threat to their company or maybe even an opportunity. I believe environmentalism is more of an opportunity than a threat for marketers. Environmentalism can even open some doors for marketers. For example, creating "eco-friendly" products could bring more customers to your business. People who want environmentally safe products may even pay more for the product if is truly what they believe. In this day in age, more an more people are becoming aware of global warming and are trying to buy things that use less cardboard, plastic and use more items that can be recycled.

This can also be a benefit to a company if the company practices "green" traits. This can include simply recycling in the warehouse, reducing greenhouse gas emission and even use energy efficient printers. Customers becoming aware that your company is going "green" can be a great benefit. For example, when I was a freshman in college (a couple years ago), poland springs water company came out with a new water bottle that used 1/3 less plastic. Many of my friends, including myself bought these "eco-friendly" bottles rather than their competitors. Within months of poland springs coming out with the "eco-friendly" bottles, their competitors followed in the same direction. In this case it proved that environmentalism can be a great opportunity and possibly have higher target market. If other competitors of poland springs didn't come out with the same "eco-friendly" bottles, do you think people would still buy from the other companies?

This is in response to Jackie Higgins' post: The Four P's

The marketing mix does play a huge role in achieving a job. You touched upon many great points using the four P's when finding a job. "Place" as you stated is an important aspect to consider. As you said, one must figure out how far the job is from your home and what the cost from getting from point A to point B would be. Like you said, transportation is a factor depending on the location of the job. If you job is in New York City or Boston, it may be required to park on the outskirts of the town and take a train into the city. Not only would one have to worry about gas prices, but also the cost of the train as well. You stated a good point about promotion. If someone is shy and withdrawn, it may hinder their ability to get the job over someone else who is equal to you in qualifications. "Promotion" should be the time when the individual "sells" them self to the company that are trying to be apart of. Whether that be selling them self in a job interview or even on a resume. The last P to the marketing mix is price. I completely agree with your idea on "price". It is hard to talk about your salary with a potential employer but it must be talked about. Like you said, you do not want to work for nothing but at the same time, you don't want to seem greedy. I personally think salary should be talked about at the second interview with an employer. When do you think salary rate should be talked about with a potential employer?

The Four P's in Marketing

The four P's in marketing are relevant to any person seeking out a job. There are many different aspects to take into consideration when on the search for a career. When on the hunt for a job that person would labeled as the potential product to the company. The other three P's in marketing, place, promotion and price are important ideas every person must take into consideration when looking for a job or even getting a job offer.

Place, which is the second P of marketing is important to consider. Where the company you are planning to work for is located is a huge aspect to think about. For example, if I live in New Hampshire and get a job offer for Target five hours away, there would be many components I should think about. The first component would be the distance. Would I need to relocate? If, not how many miles would I be driving to get to this job? This brings me to intersect the third P which is Price. On top of the location, if I did end up driving to this job, gas would have to be an item I must consider. The price of gas and travel expenses would have to be considered if I were to drive to this location. Also, from the increased amount of driving to this job, expenses such as repairs would occur more often. The third P that one must consider when looking for a job is promotion.

Promotion is very important when finding a job. You must do you best to promote yourself in every way possible. During interviews and even just calling them to set up an interview, you must talk in a professional manor, giving the best impression possible. Not only should you promote yourself verbally, but also in a written form. It is important to promote yourself on a resume. By doing both the employer can see the personable side and the professional side to the potential employee. If society gets to the point where only online interviews are conducted, would the employer possibly get mislead without the face to face interview?