One of our group members suggested that we choose Abercrombie and Fitch as our company for marketing project. There are four boys in the group, who have different backgrounds with different interests in clothing style: Muieen is obsessed with Hawaiian shirt, which he believe can replace any formal suits in any formal events. We had some arguments and disagreements as we we deciding our target market and as we were rapping.

Learning the importance of identifying target market for a company is the biggest lesson from this project. Second lesson I learned from this project is how important it is to have respect for teammates’ voices in every decision making. I had the most subtle idea of the term “marketing” that all commercials which companies made were  just natural results, not a product of efforts and consideration of target market.

For example, A&F specifically targets 18-22 years old young generation customers to look cool, sexy and attractive in all American style. The CEO, Michael Jeffrey, sometimes explicitly announces how bad he targets those good-looking people as their customers. It was interesting to see how companies sometimes fail in targeting customers. P&G targeted their product, Swifter, to women but found out later how Italians love the product and makes lots of profit in Italy.

Our group criticized the company’s strategies with the 4Ps (price, product, place, and promotion) and made recommendations for them in our own rights. This project helped me understand what Rui Da Silva, my marketing professor, said, “marketing is everything.” I can apply these experiences to know what my STPs (segmentation, targeting, and positioning.) I can start now marketing myself to the world.

If you have been thinking that a CEO of a not-for-profit organization or cahrities gets paid only minimum, or even works for free, your perception of nonprofits is a little outdated. Since 1970, more than 200,000 nonprofits have opened but only 144 of them have reached $50 million in annual revenues. For example, the CEO of Boys and Girls club receives a annual salary of more than 1 million US dollars.

Marketing has become more and more important for those organization because of increase in competition for fund and tax revenues. Those organizations that have the following characteristics must consider more and more marketing strategies for themselves:

1.         They have a need to identify their target groups and better understand their needs, wants, and desires.

2.         They are faced with a continuing increase in tough, smart competitors.

3.         They must confront diminishing markets due to changing demographics or behaviours.

4.         Their customers, constituents, or publics are becoming increasingly needy and/or demanding.

(From website http://smartamarketing.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/undertanding-not-for-profit-marketing/)

Considering its nature, we should not argue that nonprofits focus on sales because, strictly saying, their end-customers do not purchase their services or products. But nonprofits have had all they need to continue their “business” in the past and, most importantly, the need to effectively persuade the publics to use their services has not always existed, said Brian Monger in “Smart Marketing.”

Many people suggest that nonprofits should stop the old traditional lay-back style of business to start acting like real business, profit-seeking companies that feast on money and capitalism.

Marketing is the promotion of the exchange of goods or services at a mutually agreeable price. It involves a tangible, reciprocal transaction between a seller and a buyer . Nonprofits make their funds through mostly tax revenues and user charges. With a good marketing, I believe that those organizations can realize their vision.

-Michael R. Maude