Hi everyone, welcome to my blog!
In February of 2010 I bought my first DSLR camera (a Nikon D5000, often referred to by others as ‘Tim’s Child’), since then, many people have started identifying me as ‘that Nikon guy’, photo-Blonk’ or simply: ‘that guy who loves to take pictures’. I prefer to go by the last title, as it most accurately describes me. Therefore, when it came to writing a marketing blog, it seemed natural for me to start with a post about photography. So here we go! (I will keep this blog mostly professional, but I realize that a bit of humor never hurt anyone)
Now I would like to start by adressing the issue of the barbed wire in the header of this blog. I took this picture three days ago while on a retreat in Hope, British Columbia. I consider it to be one of my best photos of the weekend; it is incredibly simple, there is really not much to it aside from a really large aperture setting on my Nikon Lens. However, I still really like it. Wondering how others felt about it, I asked several friends what they thought of it. The result: 12/20 did not like it very much, 4/20 thought it was interesting, and 4/20 really liked it.
Perspectives Differ, So Do Consumer Wants
Main Point: People have different tastes in what they like, what they want, and how they perceive the things around them. In this case, my taste in photography varies from that of most people, in essence I can represent a niche-market of ‘odd-picture-consumers’.
Marketing is all about finding these different trends in consumer’s wants and desires; adjusting products and advertising to maximize the consumer desire for one’s goods. In the field of photography, marketing is impossible to miss. Take into consideration the two largest competitors in the DSLR-camera industry: Nikon and Canon.
In essence, both companies produce very similar goods; both have 18-55mm lenses, both sell 12.3 mega-pixel camera bodies, both continuously improve their products in response to customer feedback. However, I will never buy a Canon camera. Why? Effective Marketing.
Nikon and Canon market their products in very different ways, and I will be sure to adress the specifics of their marketing strategies in a future post. But for now I would like to conclude this post with several things I have observed:
– Consumers want to be different, but they also want the products that will serve them best. The result: a fierce marketing battle between companies that can both provide quality and individualized products.
– Marketing breaches all areas of society, from blatant billboard ads, to the subtle ‘this famous photographer uses our cameras, if you want to be as good as him, use our cameras aswell’.
-Marketing strives to create a loyal-customer base. In the photography industry, marketing to amateur photographers is of utmost importance. The first brand a photographer buys, will most likely be the brand he/she will stick with for the rest of their life. (very high life-time values for companies such as Nikon and Canon)
– Sadly, not everybody enjoys pictures of barbed wire.
I hope you enjoyed this initial post!
In case you want to see how I have been using my Nikon camera, feel free to look at some of my pictures here.
Final Note: I have use the name ‘Nikon’ 8 times in this blog post. Is subliminal messaging acting as marketing? Yes.
I liked Barbed Beauty, but Life’s a Mirror is out of this world! Loved it.
Also your blog got me looking up Nikon prices.
Subliminal marketing success, i guess.
Don’t fall into the evil Nikon trap Sayan, :P!
On a more serious note, I find your devotion to the brand intriguing. I’m much less of a loyal customer when it comes to cameras. I tend to go by price and independent reviews. I suppose having such a loyalty does save you time though, :).