I learned the importance of being interdependent. Being dependent and self-sustainable is not enough to survive in a globalizing world but being able to help others is what’s important. Your networks matter. Being able to drawn upon the power of our personal network to help others connect to each other not only an option but is nessarsary to be successful in business.
I use to think Marketing was Smokes and Mirrors but after taking this course I have now changed my mind. Marketing is so important in business. A companies brand is a sustainable competitive avantage. Its not just an art-zy fat-zy thing. Its real. People believe its real and what people precieve is their reality.
For those who have never taken marketing, marketing is not just about advertising and promotion. Its also about distribution: getting the product to customers. Its about price- finding the correct price to drive sales. Its about product and design. I’ve learnt so much form this course and i definately recommend taking this marketing course with Tamar for all second year students.
I came across Brian Solis’s blog about the power of having advocates.
http://www.briansolis.com/2010/10/the-business-case-for-facebook-your-homepage-for-the-social-web/
Studies how that customers who follow or become a friend with a particular company through social media are more likely to recommend the the company to friends and family. Companies motivate consumers to join their social network by giving these “now members” exclusive promotions and discounts. With the power of social media companies can create their memberships and community like environment where consumers feel like they are important and there leads to consumers being advocates.
Last night I had to shop for some personal hygiene products and I decided to go to Shoppers Drug Mart. It was close by and it was one of the only stores open pass 11pm. As I was going throught the prices for different hairgels and bodywashes I noticed that the Dove bodywash brand that I always used was $2 off. What I didn’t know was that I had to have a Shopper’s card. I didnt have one and I didnt want to spend time appling for one.
Almost every other product had a discounted price if you had a Shoppers Card. I could definately tell that Shoppers was trying to do two things
1. Have a data base for customer’s shopping habits for market research
2. Creating customer loyalty by rewarding customers with points and discounts for having the card.
It was very fustrating not having a card. I wish that Shoppers was like Safeway where you just give them your phone number and never have to carry the card with you.
This week in Marketing class we learned about pricing strategy. Ever since I was old enough to learn how to use money I always made my buying decisions based on price. I always wanted the best so to find out which product was the best I always choose to buy the most expensive product. I’m not the only person who does this but many others in the world think exactly the same way as I do. For example, car dealerships such as Lamborghini and Ferrari know that if they price there cars higher it will not lose demand. They are pricing to target people who want the best. Lowering the price will only take away from the value and prestige therefore they keep their prices high. 
Some people may disagree such as the people who wrote this article:http://www.sub5zero.com/auto-news/top-10-overpriced-supercars-cheaper-alternatives-part-ii
They claim that these cars are OVERPRICED. These supercars are priced so high because attact buyers who want the prestige of being one of the only few people who can afford them.
Having a high price is actually what buyers want.
Hi everyone,
I woke up one morning and was rushing to look for a snack to bring to school and I found this!
Its no ordinary banana. Its REPACKAGED and targets a whole new segment. Relating to our class last week, we know that banana are in the MATURE product phase of the cycle. What does has done here by packaging the banana is MARKET DEVLOPEMENT. Dole is trying to expand their markets by reaching consumers who want to have easy to take snacks. Dole is not competing not only with other fruits but other direct substitutes such as graloa bars and canada easy to go snacks. Utimately, the demand for the banana product itself is not growing and one of the only ways to increase sales would be to perform market devlopment.
Now I dont know if i could ever go back to eating banana’s if they are unpackaged.
After reading Kristine’s blog about her decision to choose Blackberry over the Iphone, I wanted to explore the reasons I made the same decision by using the material I learned in the Consumer Behavior chapter.
For Kristine, it was the functional and pychological reasons that she purchased the Blackberry. For me, it was the sociological reasons. More specifically from my friends aka reference group. I’m not a tech guy and I don’t like to spend time researching about phone so when I was in the Information Research process, I went directly to my friends for advice. They guided me to exactly where to buy the phone and all the features of the phone. I even got to try the phone out. It was obvious that my friends had a good experience with the phone and therefore were advocates trying to sell me the Blackberry. This is how I came to make my decision. I didnt even try to compare the other phones in my evoked set of phones. I just went with what my friends recommended because I trusted them. This is how I came to purchase the Blackberry.
The Truth about Bottled water!
Why would you PAY for something you already get for FREE?
4 marketing answers.
Marketers use these consumer preceptions to showcase the benifits of bottled water therefore being able to sell a free comodity!
This is a response to Alex Diep’s blog about Portfolio Managers.
Alex’s experience working for 2 Portfolio Manager has taught him the importance of marketing. Eventhought their Job Title implies finacial experts they are in fact MARKETERS. I have learn this in the same respect by working with a Professional Real Estate Investment Advisor.
Real Estate Advisor are a special type of Realtor who focuses on clients that want to buy and invest in real estate property. Although the Realtors knowledge of real estate investments are superior they focus 80% marketing themselves to find clients. Only 20% percent is actually spend advising clients. Therefore, these so called Real Estate Investment Advisors are actually Marketors.
Furthermore, these special type of Realtors focus not only on investors but even further special into a small niche geographic area of the city. By targeting the a specific part of the city such as Collingwood in East Vancouver, these Realtors are able to market themselves as experts in the area. Doing this creates an image of them an specialist. When investors think of Collingwood, they would think of this Realtor. Anyone know buys in the area would want an expert on the area therefore they would call this Realtor. In marketing class, this would be called consumer tageting. More specifically geodemographic group of consumers.
So for those students know want to become either Portfolio Managers or Real Estate Advisor, focus 80% of your time perfecting your marketing and not the other way around!
Problem: You don’t know how hairgel will work with your hair until you have bought it and tried it at home. This is a waste of money and time and until now my problem has been solved.
For the many guys out there: Have you ever had the problem of buying the wrong hair gel over and over until you find one that matches your needs?
Axe has solved this problem. Axe has identified a problem through a situation analysis and determined that guys need to try hair gels before they can choose which one to buy.As I was walking through the mall, an Axe promotions crew gave me bag of hair gel samples with 6 different kinds! Not one, not two but six! I tried them all throughout the week and I ended up loving the Sleek and Smooth Sophisticated Look Shine Pomade. I’ll continue to use this style for a long time.
Axe has really spend time research their target consumer’s behavior and what found out why and how guys make their decision on which hair gel to buy. By giving out samples, they were able to secure my business and trust.