Shanhua Zhao's Blog

Today, I went into a marketing blog called Canadian Marketing Blog. In this blog I read a blog article “What Do Your Customers Do?” It is really interesting and tells many cusotmers behaviours and perception in the marketing study.

One of the things makes me pay most attention is the problem of targeting customers. This blog argues that although marketers try to segment customers and target on specific customers group, it is far away from the truth. Since the targeting is just kind of a experimental method, so cusotmers can still behave different from each other even they are in same group. Also, it seems that the marketers choose the best segment to target for their specific product, they are still far from the true customers group who wanna buy their products. There are always many cusotmers who really wanna buy their product being segmented outside the target group.

So what i thought about this problem is that marketers can not change their target only by knowing there are some other customers outside the target group. Because the target group they decide is based on so many valuable test, suvey, and experiment. The only thing they can do is to provide best customer service to each customer who is interseted in their product. Nothing is really perfect, so is the targeting!

Recently read a article from my classmate’s blog (Blog address: https://blogs.ubc.ca/bobaeyang/2011/03/03/what-i-think-is-unique-about-blueloyal/_), it is really cool. It is about USB design and mamufacture company which make customized USB based on different customers’ needs.

( Blueloyal company website: http://blueloyal.com/)

I just visited this company website, it is really cool!
This company produces the customized USB for each customer. Is it kind of micromarketing(one-to-one)? I believe it is. Customers as a key factor in marketing success, they are important to every business. The customerized service for customers will increase their positive attitudes to the company, as well as customer loyalty. All customers want to be treated special and valuable, so cusotmerized service and products will satisfy unique need and demand of each customer. when customers are satisfied with the USB product, they will build their loyalty to the company and say good words about the company to others. This is good for company.
Also, by customization of each product, this USB company will increase its sales volume because it can drive its competitors out of competition. Only few USB companies doing so for customers, so this is a sustainable competitive advantage for blue loyal company.
I believe that the more benefits and values you provide to your customers, the more positive responses you will receive from customers.
I personally want to order my unique USB device form blue loyal now! Lol!!!

Today I read a Blog post from one of Marketing class mate (her blog addresss: https://blogs.ubc.ca/jinfengguo/). She wrote something about Internet marketing which is very interesting.

She talked about that Internet sales/e-commerce is becoming popular recently. More and more internet vendors try to promote and make advertisement online. But most of those pop-up ads are so uncreative and drive customers to ignore them. Therefore, She made some suggestion on the internet marketing. She suggested create a market around friends and relatives, and then expanding the scope of influence through word of mouth.

What I think about this is marketers should create some kind of interesting ads to let customers aware of the product themselves, do not make such kind of pop-up ad to force customers so much, just make the ad fun to increase customers’ curiosity to watch the ads. Also, marketers can use sales promotion to attract customers, provide them with free samples, buy-one-get-one promotion, and volume-discount. These may help the online product known to customers and let them to take real action to purchase onlie.

Today we I search on line for custom products and companies, I find the Nike custom shoes design website. It is so cool! Look at those custom Nike shoes below.

After seeing these pictures, do you want to order a pair of unique Nike shoes for yourself? I do. Nike custom shoes give customer a feel of being treated valuable. Customer who order their own custom shoes on this website can choose the color they want and the special pictures on the shoes. This kind of customized service help Nike build a larger and more loyal customers base.

For all customers like you and me, we all want to be treated special. If the company remember our name when we go in their store, if we receive a birthday card from the company when your birthday’s coming. These all make stronger customer loyalty to the company. This is the key point of customer service, give customers what they want at the right time by the right ways.

 I guess nowadays more and more custom products and design companies are in the market to satisfy customers demand and need, I believe this kind of custom shoes design will bring more loyal customers to Nike and will add more value for NIKE.

Source link: http://nikeid.nike.com/nikeid/index.jsp#home

Great marketers always try their best to attract all customers’ attention and interest on the product they want to sell. They always create great and expressive ads and other marketing atrategy to make their products famous in the market. Let’s see the following great ads to learn how wonderful those ideas are!

This is a ad about the highlight pen on the street, See, every people who passes the street pays attention and is interested in this big highlighter! Marketers use this creative and interesting way to express the marketing ides. Let more people awared of, let more people interested in. This cool ad gives customers the motion to purchase and try this pen.

Another great ad. We don’t need to tell, just by looking at this picture, we know that it is about the new lemon flavor  of  pepsi soft drink. The key message this ad express to customers is the lemon flavor. People especially young people who see this ad may want to try this new flavor to see how the taste is after cute lemon’s “pee”. This ad also gives customers the clear and real feeling that the new flavor pepsi is rich of lemon in it. If you prefer lemon flavor drinks, I believe you will try it.

Now tell me how do you feel about this fitness company ad? It’s cool, ah?  It’s so real that makes me feel the lady is holding a dumbbell. After seeing this, will you remember this fittness company forever in heart? I will.

Last intersting picture today, lol. Does UPS know this Fedex’s ad? I wonder!

This ad has very clear goal: competing over his biggest competitor-UPS. I think it is very cool. So are you thinking that Fedex do actually deliver UPS delivery truck? Do you think Fedex wins this time by this picture? I can only say: it’s soooo cool!

As one of the 5 Cs of pricing, customer is an important influencer affecting how the company sets its price and how much a product is. Customers’ demand of the specific product is directly related to company’s decision about the price of the product. Also, customers’ perception of the value and the cost of the product leads to the price they are willing to pay. For example, for a chocolate bar, customers have reference price perception from millions of other substitute snack and won’t pay much more than $3.

For the companies themselves, different company objectives also infuence their pricing strategy. Sales orientation, profit orientation, competitor orientation, and customer orientation. Companies try to find their own strategy for the product pricing. Just like the example from the class, Kopi Luwak coffee price $25 per shot by its cusotmers value orientation.

Competition also affect the product price. In the pure competition, company can not change their price different from other competitors, just like the example of chocolate bar. However, if you are in monopoly or monopolistic competition, you have the power to set your price. Like the Mercedes Benz, its luxury brand give it the power to set a higher price.

Many factors together affect the product pricing, Let the price tells customer the value. Price is the signal.

This is a video of Dove beauty evolution. Evolution is an advertising campaign launched by Unilever in 2006 as part of its Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, to promote the newly created Dove Self-Esteem Fund.  To coincide with the expansion of the Dove brand from soaps and other cleansing solutions to health and beauty products in general, Dove advertise these to promote its products by telling people what the true beauty is and what it lokks like. Also Dove make people believe everyone can be pretty.

As a famous beauty products brand, Dove has several segments and target market for different products. However, many other beauty product brands do the similar thing. what makes Dove different from others? What’s the positioning of Dove?

Segment: Dove has several segments to divide its customers to different group. For example, Dove has men products and women products. The company markets according to different gender groups.

Target: Dove has a differentiated marketing, and differnet target market for different segment groups.

For instance, Dove’s positioning statement can be—- For all the customers who take care of their skin, Dove is the beauty product which provides more natural and soft material in the products to make customers’ skin softer, unlike P&G which provide functional products.

Have you joined the evolution yet?

Video source: McDonald\’s Commercial – Chicken Parmigiana Snack Wrap

Have you ever seen McDonald’s Chicken Parmigiana Snack Wrap commercial before? Have you ever tried this snack wrap? If you have not, Watch this McDonald’s commercial and find what this snack wrap can bring to you. You will want to try it then.

In this commercial, a man who is exhausted from his work finally gets his energy back after he drives far way to get a McDonald’s chicken snack wrap. This commercial shows audiences all the features this snack wrap has. In the meanwhile, audiences can discover each benefit they can attain relating to each of these features.

This snack wrap is quite small, to customers, it serves just as a afternoon snack.

This snack wrap is made with chicken, special sauce, and swiss cheese, to customers, it taste good.

This snack wrap goes with wrap bread, meat, vegetable, it can satisfy customers’ stomach during the work break.

This snack wrap is rolled in the light yellow paper, to customers, it is easy to carry and hold to eat.

at last, the McDonald restaurant provides drive-through take out, so to customers. this is convenient and time-saving.

In a word, from McDonald, From its Chicken Parmigiana Snack Wrap commercial, customers themselves will transform all its features into the benefits customers can get from the wrap or McDonald. After customers attain all the benefits the features lead to, they will be satisfied. Therefore in this circle, The chicken snack wrap commercial is successful.

How interesting a commercial is? How effective a commercial is? We customers can tell.