Recently I have read a marketing blog about website promotion strategy.(see the link below) The tips provided in this post are quite related to what we have learned and discussed on marketing mix-promotion in class.

In the blog, the author suggested several steps to teach us how to promote a blog/website. First a blogger/website designer should think about a popular blog/web platform, which will be search engine friendly. Next a blogger/website designer should make the discussion board active. Then a blogger/website designer need to create a few articles covering keywords that people are targeting via the website and submit all of them on article publishing web sites.

In my point of view, if someone wants his/her page to be widely known, he/she has to make the content well formatted, unique, not duplicate and not cliché. Moreover, go to visit other’s blogs/website and leave comments there can also be an effective way since communication is always two-way, other bloggers/web owners will go back to see your posts. In addition, in order to make the blogs/websites widely spread, the designer need to update it frequently so as to catch up with the current trend, videos, insert images, and links must be very useful. Also the bloggers/web designers ought to add the “like” and “share” buttons to attract website viewers to forward the pages.

link: http://olmaweblinkdirectory.com/blog/website-promotion-strategy/

      Recently I have read Wenyu Liu’s post on “Enhance brand reputation”, in her post; she analyzed several ways to improve company’s reputation and provided two examples of how company used strategies to enhance their relationships to customers. One company is Starbucks, which focused on recycling and eco-friendly issues to attract potential consumers and absorb more loyalty consumers. The other company is Tim Horton’s, which established a non-profit organization for donation to the young generation to help them build strong personalities to benefit their whole lives. It is no doubt that these public welfare establishments enhance companies’ reputation in the public to a large degree.

      Nowadays, many companies use the internet as a tool to manage their public relationship. Generally, generating awareness and visibility online involves a number for channels, including search engines and social network. Many consumers now browse websites to get acquainted to a company, then to become a fan of that. By optimizing the structure and content of the website, one can improves accessibility, knows the company’s culture, products, and contributions to the society in detail. Search engines also have an easier time finding and indexing the content on the site. When the search engines can find you, there is a greater chance that customers will find you. Managing a brand’s online reputation is also about maintaining trust. Delivering on consumer expectations in search is central to this effort. Since consumers associate high search rankings with prominence, authority and popularity in a brand’s field or industry segment don’t lose your customers’ trust by failing to appear for your brand and industry terms.

     Also, social media is a very useful tool. One company can be visualized by the advertisements in magazines, on TV and on the websites. Think about those facebook groups which have thousands of fans. They are always so fond of the activities their favorite companies held. As mentioned above, non-profit programs or public activities which relate to eco-friendly issues or funds for youth growth are also appreciated.

I have read Jieun Kim’s latest blog post on comparative advertising. In the post, she gave two examples of comparative advertising, one is between Pepsi and Coke and the other one is between McDonald’s and Burger King.

Generally, comparative advertising is used for brand positioning. This method is often appeared in an advertisement where there is specific mention or presentation of competing brands and also includes or implies direct comparison between these brands. In my opinion, when making advertising campaign, the brand companies have to consider how effective comparative advertisements can be and to what extent the company should use this marketing strategy so as not to offend consumers too much.

Obviously coke adherents may be offended by this Pepsi’s advertisement since the comparison is ‘too direct’ and put the ‘tanning polar’ image on coke is a little bit snide. On the contrary, probably the advertisement can stimulate coke consumers keep buying coke; even they will prefer the brand over Pepsi more. However, the McDonald’s and Burger King comparison is milder.

Comparative advertising has been widely used through the years. There have even been instances where this marketing strategy would draw on information in the public to make comparisons between specific brands. For examples, automobile manufacturers use this strategy when selling different models of cars. Airlines sometimes compare their service records and range of onboard services to that of a competitor, as a means of pursuing customers away from the competition. In all instances, the focus is on showing why a consumer should choose one product over the other.

The effectiveness of comparative advertising includes believability, which let consumers think how much they can rely on the information provided in comparative advertisements, the extent of involvement, and the convenience in evaluation^.

There are also negative effects on comparative advertising, such as damages on the honor and credibility of advertising. Negative information can be stored more effectively, and lead to strong recall. On the contrary, such negativity can either be transferred directly to the brand and the consumer’s impression of the brand.

   Nowadays, consumers are able to get information for the products which they are interested in from a variety of sources and platforms, so it is necessary for companies to use integrated approaches to launch new products, which may include traditional, social and on-line marketing tools.

   Even though it is seemed that new media has getting all over, traditional media such as television, print media (newspaper, magazine) and radio media remains an effective way to expose a never-before-seen product to the masses. Traditional media is still the most familiar tool to people in different age groups to reach a new product. Be sure to clearly spell out the elements of the product that make it newsworthy. How is it different from your existing products? How is it different from other similar products? What benefits does it provide to the consumer?

   Moreover, before putting efforts to market a new product, a company must have a home plate which ideally is a search-friendly website. Web developers of the company need to make this page appropriately coded for search, complete with keyword, title tags, header text, a unique URL and information that succinctly describes your new product. And this page should also be visible and easily accessible from the home page.   

   Also, collective buying sites such as Groupon and Living social continue to grow in popularity and offer the opportunity to introduce and incentivize the purchase of the product to an opt-in audience. These sites give  the ability to customize the product offer by market and expand the product’s reach beyond those who are already familiar with your company.

    When the product is ready to go, inform your current customers and brand enthusiasts by updating your existing social networks. These networks are filled with potential for people to share your information. Try different mediums such as videos, podcasts, photos and live chats for discussing the new product. Many people are now getting their topics of interest from social networks, so this is a place to get the product information in front of an audience that has already been sold on your business.

   Yesterday I had dinner with three friends at Milestone in downtown Vancouver; you can say it was a Thanksgiving dinner in advance since we are all going to study for the overwhelming midterms during the long weekend.

   When we wandered through Robson Street, we found out that it was undoubted to see most stores have Thanksgiving discount sales, and most restaurants have Thanksgiving special offers/combos. Merchants always know the fact that people consider birthdays, anniversaries and holidays to be special occasions worthy of a little extra spending.

    Let’s take restaurants as an example. There are always timeless ways for those restaurants to convince customers that their meals should be the recipient of those dollars. The simplest way is sending holiday greetings in advance via e-mail. In the e-mail, they may give a very warm greeting to people for the coming special holiday/occasion as well as introduce their promotion in a simple and enticing way; sometimes they are glad to add coupons in the e-mail too. However, the e-mail should seem like a greeting rather than a promotional message.

   A relatively practical way to attract more customers is using seasonal decorating while putting on a special holiday promotion. For example, on Valentine’s Day, put roses and candles on the table will be a good idea to build a romantic atmosphere. Also the restaurant may offer a special meal menu for two on that Day. On New Year’s Eve, decorate the restaurant with sparkly garlands and clocks for the countdown while provide the crowd of people with free glasses of champagne. Changing the decorations in the restaurant occasionally will keep the design up-to-date with the season and add a fresh quality to the dining experience of the most loyal customers. For the holidays, people are willing to spend, so instead of a discount, offer extra service or a free item.

   Happy Thanksgiving! 🙂

     We love H&M because their products are chic—and, more importantly, cheap. H&M carries trendy men’s and women’s clothing which in the wake of current trends. Wherever you go shopping in the world— Paris, New York, Moscow,Tokyo or Hong Kong, you will always come across a H&M store, where you can try on a range of clothes constructed of eco-friendly materials, such as the warm and chic trench coats or the charming beautiful sundresses. H&M has chosen to locate in the commercial district of the biggest capitals so as to invest less money on advertising.

    Customers chose H&M over other brand stores for several reasons. When costumers step inside their stores, they are greeted with warm customer service. Also, their products are comfortable, smart, and lovely with shining colors. Moreover, the store often has sales to promote their products (think about those 9.99, 19.99 products) to make you smile, and then buy a lot. Probably that’s why we can always see a crowd of people line up before the fitting room. In terms of the manufacture, H&M keeps a large amount of clothing inventory originating from cheap Asian manufacturers in order to lower the manufacture cost. In the competitive clothing industry, H&M is very successful at building a worldwide famous brand through choosing to locate their stores in premium locations as well as utilizing the unique management system of design, production and supply chains. Finally, unlike other fashion brands, it takes them less than two weeks from the time they design new clothing to the time it arrives in stores.

     When was it that high-fashion became everyday wear? Like its principal competitor ZARA, this Swedish retailer also has paired up with high-fashion designers to create limited collections, creating hysteria among customers and media. For example, it collaborated with Jimmy Choo for shoes and with Lanvin and COMME des GARÇONS for clothes, all of the products were selling out instantly since many frenetic fans preordered long time before the collections have launched.

    In short, H&M is certainly the pioneer in terms of using young talented designers to make cheap yet high-fashion items in a fast pace. Also, it was one of the first apparel retailers focusing on e-commerce.