Blog 9: The Grand Finale

This is it, the end of the road and the end of this blog. Thank you again to those who viewed this page as I greatly appreciate your willingness to read what I have to say.

This post, essentially, is going to summarize a few things that really stuck with me throughout my Marketing course which I partook in this semester. Its going to touch on five key things which I have learned, most of them dealing with communication in marketing. It is going to be easier for me to just jump right into things, and I am going to do so.

For myself, I found that communication in general is huge in Marketing. All over the place we can find communication; things we do and use subconsciously each day are forms of communication. The way we interact with one another is through verbal, written, or physical communication, and each of these matters in their own way. Essentially, marketing IS communicating. It is the way in which one takes various avenues and uses a plethora of different methods to explain why their product is better than its competitors’ (to put it in caveman language). Through a lot of the things I learned in my Marketing class, it all seemed to boil down to communication and how you communicate your product effectively. Obviously I know there is more to that, but I believe that this is a huge part of Marketing, something I would not have known had you asked me back in August. 

Another connection which I made with communication that I found important is the importance of clarity in a message. As a marketer, I strive to be clear and concise with what I want my listeners to understand, and I feel as though this knowledge only strengthens that. An unclear message, whether it be something as simple as an email from a boss to an employee, or an advertisement gone wrong, can cause more problems than people think. Being clear when speaking and writing is one of the biggest things about being a marketer. 

A third thing which I found connected to communication was the importance of business-consumer relationships. The business or a business owner should never sleep and should always be searching for new and innovative ways to keep with and relate to the customer (and then they can sleep). Consumers are what make your business run, obviously, so it is extremely important that when trying to market or even run a business that you keep your consumer relationships strong so that you may draw consumers in rather than push them away.

To tie these into course objectives, this could align with conveying basic and emerging marketing concepts because I think these are definitely emerging marketing concepts. Communication is becoming more and more vital in the business world, and with social media emerging in all forms and everywhere, communication is only growing as a marketing concept that people will have to grasp and understand. This also goes along with consumer behavior and social media marketing because marketers are targeting teens and those in Generation Y through social media because that is where consumers are logging most of their time and can be reached personally, so these companies have a strong understanding of their target market (who they are marketing to) along with the behavior of their consumers.

Another thing that I would like to speak on is the fact that Marketing Managers are experiencing what must feel like endless ethical issues. As the new generations are raging on, they are tearing a new “greener” path, causing a lot of companies to have to reform. Companies that are not environmentally friendly either feel pressure to use product innovation and company restructuring, or face the ethical issue of ruining the environment with their non-eco-friendly product. Along with this, marketers are always facing touchy situations about gender, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, and they face a lot of ethical issues each time they put out an advertisement.

Lastly, I would like to wrap up and talk about the class and what I wanted to get out of it vs. what I did get out of it. What I wanted was to get this expertise on marketing which I had little knowledge of, and be able to turn it into something. What I really got out of this was a lot more knowledge than I was expecting. For the beginning of the semester, I set a personal goal (which I did not reveal in my first post) that I wanted to get my own business up and running. I thought this goal to be rather far-fetched, but it is nothing other than a reality to me now. I took both a Marketing and a Management class this semester, in hopes of getting a Jimmy Neutron-sized head of knowledge.

 Jimmy Neutron

 I really learned a great deal, and was able to get my business going. I am selling Tee-Shirts online with a logo which I designed myself and am pretty proud of. I think this goal was my one goal which I wanted over all else and I was able to achieve that and it was through these classes which I took this semester that I was able to do that.

Blog 8: Sriracha Talk

Before I begin on my final post, I wanted to take some of my text space to thank everyone who has viewed or reviewed/commented or posted anything on or about my blog. This semester has been a great one and I have learned a lot from it which I hope I will be able to apply to the real world. Again thank you, and let’s begin!

For my last post, I wanted to talk with you all about a new product that has just come about, Sriracha2Go. This may seem like something ridiculous to talk on, but this business’ startup as to how they became as big as they are is all contributed to how their product was marketed, and is something very interesting to discuss.

                The two owners, Deylamian and Lewis, began the company back in 2014. They came up with their product through personal experience of a certain struggle. Whenever these two would go to their New York-styled restaurants together, they would realize that the places do not have their favorite sauce to go on top of their food-Sriracha. What the two did, was they created a reusable bottle which can be personalized to the tee and it will hold your Sriracha sauce in the container for ready use when necessary. The bottle comes with a carabiner so that consumers can attach it to things which they may not normally forget.

                Something so simple should seem like it wouldn’t make it, right?

Absolutely wrong, these guys absolutely took off with their idea, and it is all thanks to how the product was marketed. The company had some help, as BuzzFeed made a huge deal of it on their website, and it turned to be a video which went viral across all forms of social media, but a huge part of it was through their video advertising which was great.

                It is amazing to see how a company can think of a product which is so simple and yet so innovative, and through precision marketing and advertising become millionaires off of a product which seems to have such a singular and specific intended purpose.

Click Here to See an Ad on the Sriracha

Blog 7: Product Innovation

                As I would like to keep on this path of interesting topics if possible, I hope to interest you in this post with some analysis of Apple’s Apple Maps and how they have done major product innovation in the time since it was first introduced.

                To jump right into things, Apple Maps debuted only a few years ago (although it may seem longer since so many of us have used it so many times) back in 2012. As it seemed like something that did have potential, it did not live up to its expectations a single bit, as it left a huge amount of things out and misguided thousands of angered drivers. This left a gross taste in the mouths of apple users, and Apple saw that their customers wanted more, and knew that their product was no different than what that of a GPS like a TomTom or a Garmin could do. What Apple did was they decided that they needed to completely renovate their app if they wanted it to be of use to their consumers, so they hired and bought out other GPS making companies so that they could have the mass knowledge to bring together a perfect product, and that is exactly what happened.

                Now, a product that was once laughed at and mocked about is currently dominating the markets and taking GPS’ down for good. The new interface is smooth and easy to use, and rarely steers you the wrong way. They implemented transits and also give you an option if you were to travel on foot as to where you could go and an accurate calculation of how long it would take you.

                In just three years, Apple has completely taken over in some markets, and the GPS market was just another one that was there for the taking for them. As they introduced their product into the market, they found that it needed work, but could be of great excellence. Apple was able to identify that this was a product which would be used often, and could potentially be a huge asset to the iPhone which puts them above their competitors. Apple also saw that people don’t go out of their ways to search for a GPS app that really gets you there and is accurate, so they figured that making sure the phone comes with the app already and is made so that it cannot be deleted would be a huge advantage since they already are able to sell so many iphones.

Blog 6: A Local Connection

As we are rounding to the end of my Marketing semester, I figured that I would like to discuss things that are more interesting to read about (so I will be doing this for you-the reader). For this post, I am going to discuss a topic which is more personal, as it deals with a pizza place from a nearby town in New Hampshire.

The name of this place, “Pizza Bella,” was a household name around town when I lived in the area- everybody knew of it. Honestly, the place isn’t that special-they have pizza (a real good buffalo chicken), and a great deal of typical American food, but nothing too special. As it was one of the only pizza places around, everybody knew about it. As the town in which Pizza Bella is in grew up and modernized, Bella stayed the exact same. It had these old wood panels and chairs that made the worst noise when you would drag the legs of them against the floor. Here’s a picture of how it looked:

As time went on, Pizza Bella became almost outdated, and they were losing customers left and right. Being a regular there, I was close to the manager, and he kept me updated as to how business was going through the occasional chit-chat.

Knowing that his business may not survive in the changing environment, the owner felt that he needed a change in his small business. What he did, was an expert marketing technique; the owner renovated the inside of the pizza parlor entirely, and made it much more crisp and modern.

What the owner did next, is he called up two local stars who grew up in the town- Seth and Josh Myers, and asked them to come down to the pizza place to take some pictures. He ended up getting the great picture shown here, and posted it to their website. On top of this, the local stars posted it to their twitter accounts, and it created an uproar. A vast majority of the town reposted the picture that was put up, and thousands saw the new renovation. Eventually, people were flowing back in the shop as they used to, all to check out the new place which they had known to be the same for so long. What was done here was expert marketing, as the owner saw the world changing around him, and felt that he too had to adapt to his competitors or else he would go under. New pizza places sprouted around the town, but Pizza Bella was able to stay afloat from their new renovation and fresh new look and start.

Blog Post 5: Social Media's Impact on Small and Large Businesses

     For the following post, I will be writing on the topic of social media’s impact for big and small businesses, and how it has leveled the field for the two. To begin, it would be fair for me to explain exactly what I mean when I use the term ‘social media.’ Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest are all examples of social media. Consumers of the rising generations are all on social media, and a large amount of Generation X are Facebook users at least. Through this means of communication, consumers are able to communicate with other consumers with ease and gather information about a product no-problem.

How does this level the playing field?

     Smaller businesses who compete with large businesses normally struggle with advertising and getting their product out into the market, giving the larger businesses a huge advantage. Through social media, small business owners can create an account on any of these social media sites and begin advertising to millions of people in seconds. Social media has opened up a direct – from a company directly to a consumer’s phone/laptop/computer – which allows all of these small businesses a fair and equal chance of getting their product out there in the market. There are now apps for iPhones that find small businesses like restaurants and give people information on them. Consumers can now generate reviews on these stores and restaurants and post them to either the app or somewhere on the internet and consumers can access these reviews at the touch of their finger.

Pinterest's New Search Engine

     Another example of how social media has an impact for these small businesses can be shown through Pinterest and their recent update to the interface of the app. Consumers can now search through a product (let’s say I type in “sweatshirts” or something of the sorts) and then find a product that they like, then from the product that they like, they can use a new search engine-like feature. This feature allows people to take that product which they like, and search millions of other places through Pinterest that have similar or exact features of that sweatshirt. What this does is it allows consumers to discover new products which small business owners may have made but have trouble advertising. This opens new doors to consumer purchasing and it really gives an advantage to all of these small business owners.

Blog 4: Marketing Vs. Marketing Research

For the following blog post, I will again be looking at the AMA’s website and analyzing a certain part of it. For this section, I will be touching on the AMA’s definitions of both Marketing and Marketing research. Although the two are seemingly similar, they do have their distinct differences which put one apart from the other. First, what I figured I would do, was to show you, the reader, the AMA’s definition of Marketing. The definition can be found below:

Marketing, as it may seem, is a relatively broad word; it encompasses a multitude of methods, terms, values, and practices, so it is pretty hard to construct a clear definition. The AMA does a proper job in defining Marketing by taking key aspects of the term and putting it in a clear, understandable definition. To simplify this definition even further, the AMA is essentially saying that Marketing is a series of practices that all lead to the exchanging of a product from company to consumer. This is an important term for the AMA and any marketer in general. Now that you have gotten a grasp on the definition of Marketing, I can now show you the definition of Marketing Research and we can begin to draw contrasts between the two.

The definition of Marketing Research can be found below:

As you can see, this definition is a bit lengthier than Marketing, as it is more definable and there is less to it than Marketing. What Marketing Research is, essentially, is it is all of the information which a company extracts from consumers through a variety of tests and surveys, along with a plethora of other methods. The research then allows companies to get a better feel of their customers and the demographics of their consumers, allowing them to target specific areas of people with much more ease than if they did not have the information.

What is the difference between the two? Are they related?

They absolutely are related; marketing research is an essential part to marketing. The reason for this being described earlier- companies and marketers are easily able to access certain demographics because they have all of this information which comes from Marketing Research. The research is what comes before the marketing process begins. Researchers take the information which they generate about their products from these surveys and other tests and then they begin to come up with methods in which they could reach their consumers.

Marketing, the term, used to come before marketing research, but once marketing research was tangible and became something of use, it came before any sort of marketing.

Even though I say that Marketing Research comes before Marketing, Marketing Research is actually a part of marketing-it is an element of the marketing process. It is just a method in which companies can begin to do research for a product which they are looking to advertise.

Blog 3: Statement of Ethics Review

For this blog post, I will be analyzing the Statement of Ethics in the “About” section of the AMA website. Upon entering the website, it is relatively clear to spot the “About” section right away, and the Statement of Ethics is directly underneath that; it is the first thing that you see when you click on the “About” tab. As I came across this, I was surprised that the Statement of Ethics was one of the first things that you come across when going into the “About” tab. It shows that the AMA is committed to their Statement of Ethics and that they feel this statement encompasses exactly who they are. The entirety of the statement is broken into four parts-the ‘preamble,’ ‘ethical norms,’ ‘ethical values,’ and ‘implementation.’

                First, the preamble, delves into an immediate bold statement, claiming that they provide the highest standard of ethical norms at the professional level. What the intention of this statement is, is that it is meant to grasp the reader and sort of get their attention towards the legitimacy of the AMA and what they are about. As the section moves forward, the preamble then leads into how members of the AMA should act and, from there, begins to introduce the ethical norms and values which marketers should practice/follow.

                The second section, the ‘Ethical Norms,’ gives a list of three things which marketers must do as they are the ethical norms of the AMA. The first of the three claims that as marketers it is important that we do not go against any laws or regulations when making choices in the marketing world. The second on the list is to have trust in the marketing system and also to avoid forms of deception when marketing a product to consumers. Finally, the third, essentially makes the claim that marketers need to follow ethical values when they are dealing with consumers.

                As for the third section, titled ‘Ethical Values,’ it is broken up into multiple subsections, and each subsection is titled with a different ethical value of the AMA. The list runs like this: Honesty, Responsibility, Fairness, Respect, Transparency, and Citizenship. These subsections all go more in depth, and the AMA takes its time to thoroughly describe the importance of each value and how to go about practicing each value. As a whole, one can get a great feel on what the AMA is about and what their goals as marketers truly are. This section is a key part in how one could develop a feeling as to what the AMA is about.

                The last section, ‘implementation,’ is a short paragraph which ultimately explains how a member of the AMA should go about applying these norms and values to their every-day marketing life. It then goes on to summarize the goals of the AMA and gives a location as to where someone who is looking for a “code of conduct” kind of thing which marketers should follow would be at.

As a whole, this Statement of Ethics is a powerful one which really portrays what a marketer should get out of becoming a member of the AMA.

Blog 2: The AMA

            For this second blog post, I’ll be touching on and venturing into the AMA; what it is, what it does, and things along those lines will all be discussed in the following post. For those who do not know, the AMA is an acronym for the American Marketing Association. It is an organization for marketers and also teachers, as they have a total of 30,000 members roughly to-date.

            The organization’s main purpose is to provide to anyone who is willing to either study or teach others everything and anything there is to know about marketing. They keep their material up to date so that others can gain knowledge from their lessons that are recent and updated. They work their website so that it is constructed in a way which is similar to a forum. For those who are unaware of what a forum is, it is similar to a blog, but it is constructed in a way that people can have discussions on informative matters, such as marketing for an example. By having this website organized this way, people are allowed to access the discussions and sort of compare and contrast ideas and blend their own marketing concepts and values with other people’s who share the same interest.

            The AMA’s website is easy to navigate, and works as a forum as well as a database. If you are searching for a certain concept in marketing, you could type in the term or concept in the search bar, and the engine will produce a multitude of informative readings and published articles about the topic that you are searching.

           

            For instance, since we learned about Brand Loyalty in the last week, I decided to type that into the search engine to see what I would get in return. What the AMA’s website did was it returned to me two hundred and fifty two results which contained or talked of Brand Loyalty. Each source that was provided was extremely credible and could have been used in a scholarly article.

            To stray away from the AMA, I would like to discuss the topic of Brand Loyalty. As we learned about it, Brand Loyalty can be defined as the tendency for consumers to continue buying the same product over competing products. To put it into smaller wording, it’s the idea that people prefer one brand to another brand when searching for the same product. For example, people either prefer Nike to Adidas or the other way around. It is completely up to the psyche of the consumer and how they feel or react to a certain product.