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.

Blog 1: My Goals this Fall

Hi everyone, my name is Nolan Villeneuve and I am a few weeks into my junior year at Saint Michael’s College, a liberal arts school residing in Colchester, Vermont. I am a Media Studies and Digital Arts major and a Business Administration minor, along with being a student-athlete as I am part of the Division II Men’s Soccer team at school. Looking into another year at St. Mike’s, I am hoping that I will achieve my goals that I have set for myself on and off the soccer field, whether it be academics or something as simplistic as my social life. The purpose of this blog is so that I myself will be able to reflect on my efforts as a student in my Marketing class that I am enrolled in this fall. I will be communicating through this blog which will be maintained regularly. My goal with this is to provide helpful and informative lessons which I have translated from my class, while keeping you engaged in my writing and work. Hopefully, you as a reader will be able to extract Marketing concepts and principles, while, at the same time, achieving an understanding as to who I am. I welcome you, the reader, to my blog, and hope you enjoy the strides I will be making as much as I will be.

Rounding the corner into week three of the class, our professor has put the main focus on the principles of marketing and getting a better grasp of a variety of terms and concepts. As I had joined onto the class a week late, I was put right into the middle of the Marketing Mix. One may see this term as a sort of joke, considering the context that I had just used the term in, but the Marketing Mix is an actual term which is defined by “The Four P’s”-Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. These four terms can be extracted and defined individually, and each have a lot more depth to them than what meets the eye, but combining these terms gives one the knowledge of the essentials of marketing.

To break things down further, the first ‘P,’ standing for Product, can simply be defined as the good or service which one is trying to sell. The second ‘P,’ standing for Price, would be the strategic cost which one’s good or service would be marked at for sale. The third ‘P,’ standing for Place, deals with distribution and where your good/service could be sold, and where it should be sold. The final ‘P’ stands for Promotion and this deals with the methods by which one will spread the word, or promote, their good/service. For a more in-depth look at the Marketing Mix, check out the following video:

As you can see, the Marketing Mix is essential to learning the ropes of Marketing, itself.

To step away from the learning portion and speak more about myself and my goals, I have set a few academically, personally, and professionally, with the aim to better myself and better those around me, meaning people like you! Academically, I would like to give this blog my best effort to make it both professional while being able to connect with the reader on a more informal level. I would also like to achieve my academic goal of being placed on the honor roll for the semester (or possibly dean’s list, if I’m lucky). Personally, I would like to score my first collegiate goal for my soccer team, as I have been ‘’knocking on the door” for two years now, soon to be three. I would like to gain new friends and do anything in my power to focus on my growth and development as a person, as I believe that I can always be a better me. Professionally, I would like to be able to use this blog to show an understanding of certain concepts of marketing, and possibly use this as an addition to a resume when I apply for a job two years from now. I will be working hard to achieve all of these goals that I have set for myself, and am happy that there will be people watching and helping me along the way.