What is marketing?

Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers, for the purpose of selling that product or service. It satisfies these needs and wants through exchange processes and building long term relationships by managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its shareholders. Sounds good right? Then why do why does most marketing stink?

The statistics provided by Michael Brenner does not paint a pretty picture.

• Consumers are bombarded with over 5,000 marketing messages a day, up from around 2,000 just a few years ago
• Two-Thirds of us are on the “Do Not Call List” to avoid telemarketing
• 86% of us skip TV ads
• 44% of direct mail is never opened and goes straight to the trash
• 90% of emails are never opened  and 99.5% of emails receive no clicks
• 99.9% or more of banner ads receive no clicks
• Recent eye-tracking studies show 18-34 year-old millennials do not look at banners on the web pages they visit

So why does people just not pay attention or disregard marketing messages? Michael Brenner claims that because businesses no longer give what customers want, businesses mainly create what they think is good for the business. Instead, businesses should “consider content over advertising” and they will realize that marketing is about creating an emotional connection with their consumers. The best way to do that is to deliver to the customer what they need.

I agree with this because advertisements used to be something I watched all the time when I was a kid. Slowly I stopped paying attention because there were too many and it wasn’t giving me the information I needed. If I was interested in a product, I could just go online to search for it instead of watching a commercial. If marketers consider content over advertising I think it would greatly rebuild the connection between consumers and company.

Reference: http://www.b2bmarketinginsider.com/strategy/why-does-marketing-suck

Airlines are coming up with more and more innovative ways to attract customers. Such as more comfortable seating arrangements, more choices to meals, and more entertainment services. Though with the increase of these attractions, so does the price of the ticket.

In Bryan’s blog posted on Oct 7. He spoke of a interesting type of add on fee available to passengers travelling with Delta Air. The airline’s added feature lets you pay extra to give you a spot next to an unsold middle seat. To some people this may a chance of a lifetime to finally have some alone time for resting, but to others this feature may be simply outrageous.

Airline’s think of this as a customization feature for their travelers, travelers can decide on their level of comfort and convenience that suits their lifestyle and budget. With higher levels of comfort and convenience, means more money added to the ticket price.

However, in my opinion, I do not find the feature as the best way to solve empty seat problems because every time an airliner takes off with unoccupied seats the airline is losing potential revenue. Even when the unoccupied seat is paid for the amount paid cannot be close to what it could have been sold for. The best way for airliners to maximum their revenue is to still try to fill up the empty seat with discounted airfare prices.

Reference:

6 Outrageous Fees the Airlines Haven’t Thought of (Yet)

https://blogs.ubc.ca/bryanwangxx/2013/10/07/purchasing-a-fancy-space-in-the-airline/

Facebook an online social networking service that is ranked as the most used social networking service by worldwide monthly active users was once used for students to  connect and share with one another. As stated in Ali Deng’s blog topic of ‘Facebook’ posted on Nov 16. Facebook has now turned into a commercialized site allowing advertisers to target users.

I agree with this point because Facebook being a real-name system allows marketers or advertisers to access your information and this is becoming a concern for its users. This is because the website is free to its users, and generates revenue from advertising, such as banner ads. All Facebook requires is that the user is over the age of 13, provides a user’s name and profile picture (if applicable) to be accessible by everyone. Users can control who sees the information they have shared, as well as who can find them in searches, through their privacy settings.

Users feel as if the privacy that Facebook provides is not up to service. Over the course of the years, Facebook has made efforts to reduce the risks of information leak but news of agencies using Facebook as a platform to receive profile information from users to discover who their allies, friends, and colleagues are is a real concern to the public.

Admittedly, Facebook is a convenient tool for people to touch up with their friends, family members and colleagues. Though to minimize the surrounding controversies, it should try to improve its privacy settings for safer and more reliable use.

Reference:

https://blogs.ubc.ca/dengali/2013/11/16/facebook/

https://blogs.ubc.ca/dimu/2013/10/07/twitters-position-of-social-media-pie/

  Content marketing is any marketing format that involves the creation and sharing of media and publishing content in order to acquire customers. With more and more consumers turning to their mobile devices for all kinds of things, the mobile becomes a powerful way of communication. Visuals enable content to stand out in the vast sea of information.That is why video content marketing is a critical content marketing element with a usage rate of 71%. Its main use is to create a memorable visual representation of your brand.

For example, RBC’s banking centers plays videos of their consultants giving tips on financial issues and problem solving. This helps take some frustration off clients waiting in line and reminds them of some of the services RBC provides that they may not know.

Lisa Ostrikoff, a writer for The Globe and Mail created a 7 ‘step’ to do list for effective use of this type of marketing.

The 7 steps are as follows:

• Business video profiles and testimonials – Rather than a typical ‘ About Us’ section on your webpage, use videos to build a emotional connection with your audience.

• Business video updates – Deliver company updates with videos instead of mass emails that just get sent to the junk box

• Behind-the-scenes footage – Sharing behind-the-scenes footage exclusively with your consumers can create a sense of inclusion in an exclusive community of your followers

• Explain a concept – Serves as an excellent teaching tool by allowing illustration of industry news and how-to tutorials.

• Document events
 – Audience will feel as though they are  part of the action, which creates a stronger bond with your brand.

• Launch a contest – A great way to get your community involved

• Branded web series – Taking  traditional television show format and breaking it down into bite-sized video clips, known as webisodes. Such as 1 min cooking clips

Basically, to make your company stand out from the rest of the other ones. You need to learn how to use visual storytelling mediums effectively and incorporate them into your content marketing strategy. As an old going says, a picture has long been worth a thousand words.

Reference: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-marketing/advertising/how-to-use-online-video-as-a-marketing-tool/article15045297/

Mike Duffy, who running a company called Yard Guyz, based in Sackville,NB, is facing a serious problem. His company is operating in an competitive environment because his competitors have deeper pockets of more established companies to support their operations and never worry about getting paid quickly. Therefore, when he was reconsidering the fledging landscaping and snow-removal business, he found that his cash-flow was in an adverse position. As a result, he recognized he should have put more money in his reserve account.

In order to reduce overhead costs and to provide a more competitive and affordable price, Mr. Duffy had decided to mostly use his own money to finance equipment purchases rather than rely on bank debt. However, we all know that this strategy seemed only good on paper, but in reality it made it hard to secure bank financing to cover his working capital needs. Consequently, the reality force Mr. Duffy to come up with an idea to solve this problem.

Firstly, Mr. Duffy decide to lower overhead costs by giving customers discounts for early payments. This strategy can basically relieve the pressure of the adverse situation. Also, it can help his company to take advantage of lower overhead costs than his competitors.

Secondly, the next strategy is to actively build his customer base. Therefore, he plan to take on smaller jobs that other companies will pass on, and that pay faster. This will not only make his client base be stable but also do increase clientele. In addition, the faster pay can help his company’s financing.

Finally, he start to pay more attention on his sales training. Through the improvement of service, client will be attracted by the quality service which can increase the revenue and his client base.

As a result, this solution help Mr. Duffy to get his new venture in the black in the first year of operation. Also, he added to his fleet of vehicles with bank financing and  hired two people to help with the increased work load.

As far as I am concerned, I have a recommendation for Mr. Duffy. According to the first strategy, he started out by giving customers discounts for early payments, taking advantage of lower overhead costs than his competitors. Actually, this will not good for him to build his client base and attract customer because no one is willing to pay before they get the discount.

Reference: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-money/cash-flow/three-small-but-signficant-moves-helped-boost-this-business/article14907449/

Mr. Fisher’s great-great grandfather, who laid the foundation of the family business by establishing a hardware business, Emerson & Fisher in Saint John, New Brunswick, in the late 1800s. Then, the family bought the Enterprise Foundry in Sackville, and moved there in the 1870s. Due to their good management, the business was growing fastly. As the business grew in the 1970s, over 400 people were hired to make all variations of cooking and heating products. However, good time did not last long. As we all know, the oil crisis occurred in the 80s which rose interest rate and fuel price. Therefore, a drastic downturn in their business during the 80s. As a result, the company went broke in 1982.

However, they did not give up after setback. Mr. Fisher, who is the fourth-generation entrepreneur of this family business, saw an opportunity to build Compact Appliances which was a distribution company to provide alternate heating options for home and commercial use. But as the company grew, he quickly realized that expansion would be limited by the size of the accessible market: primarily the Atlantic region. Therefore, he had to come up with a solution to solve this problem.

To solve the problem, Mr. Fisher decided to diversify his product offerings instead of  selling more units of the same good to a limited market.  In addition, the company would add more heating and related products to its portfolio. According to the perspective of line extension, despite the disadvantages of line extensions, there are some cases in which it is not economically feasible to create a new brand and in which a line extension might work. In his case, the volume of the product in this market is pretty low. Also, this is an undifferentiated commodity; therefore, it has less need of its own name than does a breakthrough product. Without doubt, his strategy was successful.

In conclusion, the reason why Mr. Fisher could be successful is because he stresses offering a diversified portfolio of products and built a suitable company’s business model. 

Are you still fussing about not having enough time to buy your groceries? Are you still tired from carrying all those bags? Are you still concerned about the freshness of produces in supermarket? Now, Good Eggs can solve all these problems for you!

Good Eggs, is an online interactive supermarket which provides  locally grown produce that is delivered to your door. Their mission is to offer fresh nutritious food and vegetables as well as local meat, dairy and eggs that come from naturally grown animals. Consumers can go on their website and browse through dozens of virtual stands, searching by the type of item (dairy, meats, baked goods, produce and so forth) or by farm. After consumer make an order, the order will be fulfilled and assembled on-demand in 3 days. This really reduce the time people spend on shopping in a supermarket especially for the people who are always busy.

Also, Good Eggs pay a lot attention on advertising its company by itself. Just as the author of this news said, “The Good Eggs site itself is an orgy of visual pleasure.( JENNA WORTHAM, 2013)”. The luscious and colorful photos make consumers more inclined to indulge and over-order. For customer, the first impression is very important which because it is quite difficult to change a consumer’s impression once it is formed.

However, there are still many areas that Good Eggs should be changed. Such as the delivery problem. People consume foods on Good Eggs not only because they have no time to shop in supermarket but also do wish the food they have ordered is fresh. Once the problem occur in delivery, the groceries will no longer be fresh and this will really disappointed consumers. In addition, when consumers are buying food on-line, they are not sure whether the food they receive is fresh or not. In contrast, if consumers are purchasing from supermarkets, their items are guaranteed.

In order to solve these problems, Good Eggs can build their own delivery system instead of entrusting it to the other delivery companies. To improve the company, Good Eggs can also create a membership system because the cost of purchasing food on-line is a little expensive for normal people.

Reference: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/14/technology/personaltech/goodeggs-a-virtual-farmers-market-delivers-real-food.html?ref=international

The Bugaboo was born out of Mr. Barenbrug’s graduation project in 1994. However, there was a period between 2009 and 2010 when he was not chief executive and the revenue of the company was going down. Ultimately, because of  declining product quality, falling profits and increasing personal misery, he returned to the post. Only one year, the revenues in 2012 were €94m, increased from €82m in 2011. What are the key reasons that Mr. Barenbrug can lead his company to success again?

Firstly, Mr. Barenbrug has a clear positioning of brand. Just as he said ” I am in charge of the conceptual development and make sure that all the products have excitement and are better than their competitors.”. He tries his best to maintain the quality of the stroller is the best in U.S. For this reason, he owns Bugaboo’s factory in China to maintain quality and  calling it the “basis for our success”. This is absolute correct because the success of a brand  usually is due to its being first in the market rather than the marketing abilities of company.

Secondly, it is obvious that Mr. Barenbrug avoids the free-ride trap. When a company have built a wide range of product on a single brand name, it is better to use a new brand name when the company is going to introduce an new product because a single brand name cannot hold a multiple positions;either the new product will not be successful or the original product bearing the name will lose its leadership position. Therefore, when he was considering the wary of the PR machine’s role in advertising the brand, he strongly disagree with the idea that give away  strollers because it’s hype that can easily transfer to another product.

In general, the positioning of a brand is very necessary and needed. It is quite difficult to change consumer’s impression once it is formed. Therefore, companies should have a clear idea of their brand’s position so that consumer can easily understanding what are the features and functions of products.

Reference:http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-growth/success-stories/i-have-never-worked-extremely-hard-bugaboo-co-founder-says/article13891979/

As we all know that cows have a extremely high position in INDIA. People in INDIA not only respect cows but they do also willing to feed cow. The products comes from cow are very necessary for almost everyone. They produce valuable things—milk, dung and calves. It seems like that feed cows can be a good investment project and it can benefit the INDIAN’s family. However, the truth is that the householders are always worried about the problems caused by feeding. The fee is too high. The biggest outlay should be food—the average cow consumes fodder worth about 10,000 rupees ($160) a year. Also, Veterinary costs is adding up currently. According to a new and splendidly titled NBER paper, which looks at cow and buffalo ownership in rural areas of northern India, the average revenue on a cow is -64% once you factor in the cost of labour.

The reason why Indian families are willing to purchase a cow is because people lack a formal savings mechanism for their spare cash. According to the research, only 7% of Indian villages have a bank branch. In Indian culture, people do not like to spend their spare cash on Immediate pleasures; people afraid of make spending decisions will generate regret later. Therefore, they prefer to invest a cow which are illiquid assets rather than spending.

In my opinion, this kind of idea is a barrier for the development of economy. Consumption can stimulate economic development. Manufacturers can keep producing only when people keep consuming. What exact thing they should do is to save parts of their money and use the rest of money to invest a gainful project. After they get profit from the project, they should do this again. On the other hand, if they think that feeding a cow is very necessary for them, they can still keep feeding cows but change their management style and improving their production efficiency in the meanwhile.

Reference:http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21587226-cattle-may-be-terrible-investment-decent-savings-vehicle-udder-peoples

In ChinaThe article by Brian X. Chen and Eric Ffanner told us that the cheaper IPhone, IPhone 5c, is making its way to the market and its price will be cheaper than the “traditional” IPhones. However, the cost of this phone will be $700 more in China compared to the price in the United States.

The overall aim of Apple’s production of IPhone 5c is to allow for more consumers to purchase a similar quality of IPhone at a lower price. However, with the $700 difference in China it is still withholding most of the Chinese market in consumption.
In my opinion, the reason why Apple would like to set a high price in China is because there are a lot of crazy fans of Apple in China.
“IPhone 5S is probably designed for wealthy Chinese who enjoy flashing smartphone the same way they show off jewelry (Chen & Ffanner, 2013).”
Therefore, Apple knows that if IPhone 5c can be sold in China, they will earn numerous profits from 700 million Chinese customers.
As Milton Friedman said “there is one and only one social responsibility of business – to use it resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profit so long as it stays within the rules of the game.” In this case, Apple chooses to get more profit instead of allowing for more Chinese consumers to purchase their items.

References:

B.Chen, E.Ffanner (2013,Sept). Cheaper IPhone will cost more in China.Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/technology/the-surprise-in-apples-cheaper-iphone-in-china-its-expensive.html?ref=business&_r=0      

Zimmerli., W. Holzinger, M. Richter, Klaus (2007). The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Its Profits.Corporate Ethics and Corporate Governance 173-179