To be honest, Marketing was not something that’s really attractive to me. I feel myself working better with dry numbers like Accounting. But COMM 296 has been brought me so much fun throughout the term. The material (definitions, procedures, steps…) itself is not that exciting. But the real-life examples that Tamar really wowed me.

Marketing is closer to me than I ever think. It’s everywhere around my normal life. Email promotions, billboards, bus advertisement, food samples during grocery shopping trip…

Marketing plan assignment, especially assignment 3

• About the assignments: I think they were complex but surely relevant to the course and materials we covered in class. Assignment 3 format was quite interesting. Instead of doing a normal presentation, we got the chances to use our creativity to create a video. However, this format might be hard for some teams which didn’t have any members good at video editing. My teams didn’t really struggle that much but it took a while to decide how to make the video that would be different from everyone else.
• About my team: I think my team still did ok. We met the deadlines; the marks were ok for someone who doesn’t set super high expectation for COMM 296 like me. But definitely the effectiveness of teamwork was not really achieved. We had quite a lot of meetings but most of the time; we couldn’t solve or do anything during those meeting times. I wish my team would work more effectively.

COMM 296 is the course that I will definitely suggest to other students.

 

 

Linda’s post “The Power of the Brand and Customer Loyalty” indicates how strong Starbuck’s loyal customer base is and how the company turns this into its “shield” to protect itself from the fierce coffee competition.

And no wonder, I really think a loyal customer base can become a company’s competitive advantage.

It’s a surprise that how few companies truly acknowledge, take care of and leverage those loyal customers in a way that measurably accelerates market share and recurring revenue while mitigating competitive risk and reducing sales & marketing costs. (Source)

Loyal customers are good for any organizations or brands – this is no longer a secret. Why? Because loyal customers always return; they brag about your organization/ brand providing “free” word of mouth advertising; they are surprisingly willing to pay more for your products or services; and especially, when there is a mistake, loyal customers are more forgiving than new ones.

Among all benefits above, I want to emphasize “the willingness of loyal customers to pay for a product/ service”. This is something crucial in any harsh competition. For example, let’s talk about coffee-shop industry. While many others try to get into this crazy fight, lower their prices as much as possible to gain little market share, Starbuck still stays on top with surprisingly “expensive” price. I personally love Starbuck, but sometimes with my student budget, I can’t allow myself enjoy a Grande Frappuccino every day. However, Starbuck’s customer base still grows day by day. While others struggle to cut down cost, lower price to attract customers, Starbuck still keeps or even raise prices because it had its fan who are willing to pay that price. The strong customer base is like a Starbuck’s invisible weapon to fight in this competition, which not so many companies can have.

 Obviously, customer loyalty is a very powerful competitive advantage. It’s never too late or too early to build customer loyalty. It is something that can only do good for your brand/ organization.

So how to build and maintain the loyal customer base?

Treat them right – deliver a fantastic product or service – and you can count on their business for life

Be remarkable, and they’ll tell their friends and colleagues about you as well

Earn their trust, and they’ll tell you exactly what they’re seeing in the market – your competitors, new innovations, etc.

Engage them regularly, and they’ll tell you when you’re wrong, when you screw up, and give you time to fix it

Actively listen, react to their feedback, innovate when they ask, and they won’t go anywhere

Create an army of ambassadors, and they’re an extension of your sales force in situations you have zero access to today

Make them your eyes and ears, and they’ll give you the earliest heads-up possible to any competitive threat on the horizon (with enough time to react, adjust, and cut competitors off at the knees before they can get momentum)

Ask them to brainstorm with you, and they’ll give you far better, more creative ideas than you’d ever come up with yourself

Surprise them with your responsiveness, speed and approachability,and they’ll treat you like a loyal friend

(Source)

My mom is becoming a shopaholic and somewhat having the “brand-name obsession”. Last year, I went back my hometown to visit my family and surprisingly, I found a drawer in my mom’s closet which was full of designer handbags.

Sometimes I wonder if those handbags really worth the money? Why do people ever want to pay a huge amount of money for just a handbag which they may use just once in their whole life?

Some people actually argue that all designer bags worth the money. Their prices reflect their quality.

Designer bags are made from the best materials and often boast the softest leather and are lined with the finest silks, this in itself is worth a great deal because these bags are built to last, and not just for this season and the next but often for decades. (source)

 

And sometimes, a designer bag even serves the purpose as an investment.

If you buy the latest must have and enjoy it for a couple of months then put it up for sale, you will be more than surprised to find that you will usually make your money back and sometimes even a profit! (source)

Bright sides of purchasing designer handbags!

But not everyone use ONE designer handbag frequently for years. Only a few times or in a season, then the lovely, expensive bags will probably sit in the closet forever.  And just like my mom, she never has the habit of selling her fashion items. She loves keeping them, probably to make a collection?

The obvious dark side of this? A brand-name obsession!

People purchase and wear them just to show off their wealth or the sophisticated status. Items on their bodies equal how rich they are.

Designer handbags are not always nice and really “high-quality”. But just like Apple’s die-hard fans, fashion brands also have their die-hard fans, who sometimes blindly purchase their products without considering if the products are really nice and fit them.

In my opinion, it’s all about the brand equity. Consumers perceive some benefits they can get from designer handbags (whether they are quality, wealth showing-off, status…). And the price they pay includes the “cost of brand name”.

And do they worth the cash? It’s all up to your own judgment!

 

The rapid growth of mobile devices, especially smart phones, is undeniable. With a “smart” phone in hand and wifi/ 3G/ internet, you can do almost everything in anywhere. As this blog entry mentions, email opens on mobile devices have been steadily growing, and also reach the same proportion as email opens on PC/ laptop.

People now are way easier to access to their emails through tablets and smartphones, then should companies take advantage and use more of email marketing? To make the decision, it’s important for every company to understand the good and the bad of it.

The Good?

Email marketing is definitely cheap and effective (cheaper than direct mailing (flyers), effective in reducing the time to reach out to receivers)

Through email newsletter, companies can promote business by sending out discounts or coupons, keeping present customers informed, sending out surveys without annoying customers in stores while they are shopping…

The Bad?

Who to send to? If the business is new and you don’t have a list of certain consumers whom you want to aim, and instead going to buy email lists, your email advertisement may end up in the spams.

Customers’ side, do they really read it? Even if they are current customers of your companies, they may just throw email promotion into the “trash box”. Sometimes, too many email promotion, advertisements in a week and too much information makes consumers not even bother to read.

I signed up for a lot of membership and receive email promotions almost every week. The one that attracts me the most and never end up in the “trash” box is from Sephora. Why? Because they give me a PERSONALIZED products promotion. They use my profile’s info (when I signed up for the loyalty card) and give me suggestions that fit my need and preference. I think that’s really a good method.

Overall, email marketing can be effective or ineffective. It’s all up to companies how to format and deliver the email marketing to the other end – consumers!

Some tips for Mobile Email Marketing specifically can be find here, quite interesting!

Nowadays, due to the highly competitive environment, every single feature on the product becomes important, no exception for packaging. Firms’ interest in package as a tool of sales promotion is growing increasingly. This turns into a selling proposition stimulating impulsive buying behavior, increasing market share and even somewhat reducing promotional costs.

What do consumer need from the product’s packaging (focus on grocery products)?

Apparently, the “eye-catching” element of a product’s packaging is very important. When it comes to different unknown brands, consumers likely choose the one with attractive package.

For example, in this case, I actually know No Frills while I have never purchased any Armour products. However, I will still choose Armour if I’m doing grocery shopping. The too-simple packaging of No Frills somewhat decreases the product’s quality itself. Some people even think the packaging is relative to the product’s quality. Imagery and color can have huge impact on consumers’ temporal shopping state.

Coming in second is the convenience of taking home. Consumers having their own cars may not have much trouble. Nevertheless, for consumers who have to walk or take public transportation, this element becomes super important. Some consumers may even evaluate this higher than the shelf appeal. I personally have to take bus going back home after grocery shopping. While wandering around the store/ supermarket and choosing between products, I will ask myself which one would be easy for me to carry on the bus without difficulties moving around. Therefore, decent-shaped and not-so-easy-to-break packaging is the keys.

Storage and usage comes third and fourth in the consumers’ satisfaction. People normally don’t think much about this issues while they are still in the store. When they go back home with the product, they can always find some ways to store or use it.

Disposal comes last. This element may become more important to consumers in the future due to the increasing awareness of environment. But at the present, this does not play that much important role.

Reference:

http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/topics/branding/product-packaging-loses-its-luster-once-off-the-shelf-say-consumers-26878/

Product placement can be seen as a form of advertisement. Some companies are even willing to pay a premium to get their products placed at the eye-level or “special” position to catch consumer’s attention.

While doing some research about this, I came across this article and was totally surprised. I couldn’t believe that this special form of advertisement could be considered a risk factor for obesity.

After reading that, Save-on-food came to my mind. I shop there quite often and can remember clearly the patterns within the particular store. The first step into the store, shoppers can see big sections of green, fresh vegetable and fruits, together with bread, baked goods and deli. This make the grocery shopping trip seem to be “heathy” right at the beginning. Nevertheless, when the shopping trip ends and people go to line up for check-out, a whole section of special promotion with soft-drinks, chips, candies are right behind them or even next to the cashier counters. Boringly waiting in line, shoppers can turn around, take a look and pick up some of those products without any conscious or prior intention.

But somehow, you end up leaving the store with bags full of chocolate, pop and pastries.

Source

 

Candies at the cash register

Delicious Oreo cookies right in the front, special promotion!

Shoppers are responsible for their products purchasing; however, their decisions sometimes are totally influenced by contextual factors, specifically product placement.

Product placement totally benefits for companies to get their products exposed to consumers. Thanks to that, they can sell more and gain more profit. But this action can be a hidden risk to shoppers’ health when not-so-healthy foods or products are exposed too much to consumers in grocery stores.

Not simply a matter of self-control

Source

 

 

A product advertisement highly requires the information delivered to consumers to be true.

However, in fact, there are many companies delivering misleading advertisements in attempt to persuade customers to buy the product. Cosmetic companies are quite obvious examples of this ethical issue.

Here are 2 examples:

Rodial body cream

Rodial launched an email marketing campaign for the new body cream product featuring by the actress Mila Kunis.

The misleading part of the ad is about using only £75 cream to get a body like Kunis.

Dior mascara

This product was claimed to deliver a “spectacular volume-multiplying effect, lash by lash”

Dior’s rival – L’Oreal lodged a complaint saying that Dior’s advertisement “misleadingly exaggerated the likely effects of the product.”

Both of these advertisement campaigns got banned after that.

Obviously, all the time, cosmetic’ users have been tricked by the product’s advertisements. The advertisements, specifically the images used in them, usually deliver the misleading and exaggerating effects of the products. Now, with the available image manipulation technology, cosmetic companies sink even further and further into this ethical issue. All of these advertisements together set unrealistic standards for consumers, especially women.Some women are really obsessed with the images/standards these companies create which results in some unhealthy and dangerous actions.

In my opinion, now, consumers are more aware of this issue. Most of them don’t believe 100% in cosmetic’s advertisements.  They’d rather go online and check the reviews for products than just believe in the advertisements and go purchasing immediately. If that’s the case, then is advertising meaningful and important anymore?

Cosmetic companies are turning adverts into something ugly. Even though cosmetic advertising still helps expose the product to consumers, it is definitely losing other function of building interest in customers to buy the product.

Advertising is all glitter and little truth.

Source:

http://www.studyfreak.com/gdHome.php?gd=5

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