In Response to Nichole's Post...

Nichole asked: What other strategies do you think are most affective within marketing campaigns?

I never notices how successful using animals in commercials was until Nichole pointed it out. Now I realize that every time a commercial with an animal on it comes on the television, at least one person in the room comments on how "cute" the animal is, drawing everyone's attention. This is a very strategic tactic for marketers to use, it draws in customer attention and therefore they remember the product.

I think that children have always been used in this way to bring in business as well. I have seen commercials for some car dealerships where the owner will have their son or daughter on the commercial with them explaining how great the service is. It is hard to believe that a small child really knows about the service of their families dealership compared to others, but it is still a good marketing gimmick. The innocence of the child makes it seem like more reliable information because we would like to believe that parents would not make their child lie to market a product.

Another strategy that I think has been affective in marketing campaigns is, using the ideal body type to market diet products and certain food. They make it seem like if consumers buy this product, they will look like the people in the advertisement do. However with air brushing these people probably don't really look the way they are portrayed on television or on a billboard. These people do not have average body types, they are making people think that they can look that way just by buying a diet pill or a reduced calorie diet shake. This however is false. It would be more difficult for most people to lose weight and look like the people on billboards than simply taking a pill, but those are the things they do not tell you in the advertisements.

Do you think having models and celebrities with "the perfect bodies" selling diet pills is false advertising?

Suggestive Marketing

I am curious about the affect suggestive marketing is having on today's economy. Have you ever noticed that when you search for something online, the internet recognizes it and adds relating to your search continue to pop up. They are trying to narrow down your interests, buy taking notice to what you are searching for and therefore show you adds that they hope will interest you. For example, I recently bought a pair of shoes from an online shoe store, and for days afterwards I was noticing that advertisements for women's shoes continuously appeared on the sides of Facebook, and other websites I was on. They were even similar websites, with similar looking shoes on them, they caught my eye, and I actually did look at a few of the sites that came up. The internet is narrowing down our interests and figuring out what kind of person you are by recognizing the websites you visit. Shopping online has caused my computer to give me adds for mostly clothing stores. However someone who is into video games or electronics may get a lot of adds for those. This is becoming known as part of our "electronic footprint" its going beyond what we put on Facebook and Twitter, now the internet is recognizing the sites we go on beyond just social media. These days most people have their own laptops, but I'm sure some families still use desktop computers, the problem arises when the whole family had different interests and the children are getting adds for whatever mom and dad are doing on the computer. This could potentially become a privacy concern. The internet is marking its users as children, teenagers, young adults, parents, senior citizens, and so on. They are marketing toys to the users who are on websites playing games, and clothes to teenagers shopping online.

This is potentially a very large advancement in marketing, but do you think this is crossing the line between simply marketing a product and an invasion of privacy? How do you think this new form of marketing could affect the way people use the internet?

In Response to Lyndzi Gray

Lyndzi posed the question, Since so much useful information can be learned in a marketing course then do you think it should be a required class to take? 

I believe that Marketing should be a required class for all majors. Although it does relate to Business majors  more than some others, all students could benefit from a course like Marketing. Marketing helps people learn how to navigate in a world full of competition. The point of Marketing is to publicize a products better than the competitor, therefore making more of a profit. But the competition does not end there, people need to know how to correctly market themselves in a job interview,  where they will be competing with other candidates for a position. They need to market the skills they have in a positive way, therefore making themselves look more capable than their competition. Marketing is really about competing to see which product, service, or person is the best fit for the consumers or companies needs. Competition is a huge part of life, and it is only growing because of the increasing access to computers, internet, social media, and other resources that make marketing a large part of everyday life. In order to find job, you have to know how to market yourself, no matter what the job is. I believe there is improvement that would be brought to any company of job, if everyone had a class in marketing, every student would learn how to plan improvements, make suggestions and make changes in whatever carer they chose. A background in Marketing is a positive advantage for anybody looking for a job. 

Do you think knoledge in marketing would be a positive addition to any job today?

Social Media's Impact on Marketing

Social Media is everywhere these days. Evey one has a Facebook, Myspace, Twitter or Linksys and use them daily for communication. These sites make money off of the advertisements they display on the sides or the webpage. But these sites also provide both positive and negative feedback about products or services that their patrons have used. For example, when may people post a status or write a comment about the same thing, they are grouped together on Facebook so everyone knows what a popular topic their friends are posting about. If these posts have to do with a product or service they revived from a company, whether the comments are positive or negative, they are published so all of their friends can see what their opinion was. This can be helpful or hurtful for a company, depending upon the feedback the Facebook users are giving. Many times I have found that if somebody is not pleased with a certain product or service, they will tweet or post a status about it complaining. This may just be "complaining" or "venting" to them, but for the company they are writing about this is negative publicity and can hurt their business. However the other side of this argument, is that when people are pleased with a product or service, they also write about that, and the good experience they had. I personally find that people take to Facebook and Twitter more often when they are disappointing in a company than when they are happy with a service they received. Probably because they are hoping for some sympathy from their friends, or to hear about a similar experience from another person. These posts to social media sites are simple things that people do everyday, and don't think much about. But when you think about the affect that your opinion is having on a business you can understand it from a marketing standpoint. Marketing executives spend hundreds of hours brainstorming how to advertise a product or service, and thousands of dollars to put their idea in motion. But with one sentence and s click of a button, all eight hundred of you your Facebook friends now know your opinion about a product or service. Do you think social media has affected Marketing is a more positive or negative way?

In Response to Christine Sullivan...

Do you think too much of consumers money is spent on marketing?

Yes. I do believe that too much of consumers money is spent on marketing. I believe that if less was spent on marketing the product or service, it could be less expensive, and therefore attract consumers on it own. The concept of marketing is very important, products and services need to be known so that people will want them. But I think that marketing on a smaller scale would be a way to compromise, then companies can get their product or service out there, but they will save money so they can charge less and therefore attract even more customers. It only takes a dollar to make a CD, but they cost around $20 a piece. The reason they are so outrageously expensive is because of marketing costs. The artists needs to be marketed in order to have people want to buy their music. If marketing costs were cut on items such as CD's consumers would be more willing to buy a CD because it wouldn't be so expensive. As Christine said, 50-60% of consumers dollars go to marketing costs. Which means that if marketing was scaled down, consumers would save money, prompting them to buy more products, because they saved that extra money. Marketing is absolutely an important concept, however it is too costly to consumers and should be downsized to some extent.

If you owned a business would you rather spend a lot of money on marketing, or cut the cost of your product or service so that it is more appealing to the consumer?

Marketing in Everyday Life

Marketing is something that we all use in our everyday life. Weather we are trying to get our friends to go out to eat at a certain restaurant by telling them all the positive points about it, or if we are telling someone about the new shampoo we just bought that makes your hair perfect. These are all examples of marketing, when we don't even realize we are do it. When we believe something is good, there is always a reason for it. For example, someone may like a restaurant because it has good service, good food, good atmosphere. So when we are telling people about why we like it so much we are marketing this restaurant, we just don't think of it that way. When people like a product they are going to share that with their friends. This depends upon how good the product is though, if the product is not that great, then its not worth it to tell your friends about it. We market in our everyday lives. However if you don't think about it, you don't notice it. Can you think of the last product or service you really enjoyed and may have told your friends about? Do you think marketing by word of mouth has a big impact on sales?

Applying Finding a Job to Marketing a Product or Service

I believe that when you are in search for a job, it is very important to know how to market yourself in a positive way. On a resume, you must write all of your qualifications and experience. This is proving that you have the background needed to excel at the position you are applying for. This is similar to when a company creates a flyer to promote a product or service. They also put all of positive aspects of their product or service that they are trying to sell you. Both a resume and a flyer try to "sell" something. The difference is that the resume trying to prove to an employer or company that you would be competent at a specific job, and an flyer is to make a consumer want to use a product or service that the company is offering to you.

The next step in finding a job would possibly be a job application. On the job applications you have to sell yourself to the employer.  The questions they ask are there for a reason, they want to know you have the knowledge and skills that are required for the job. Just like companies will embellish on their flyers, commercials, or billboards to sell you their product, you must "embellish" on a job application and be sure to put on the things you are proud of and apply to the job, and possibly leave out something that is not quite as impressive. There are ways to twist words on applications to make it seem as though you may have more experience and knowledge that you do, to make yourself seem more marketable. Marketing people use this tactic as well, they tell consumers all the positive aspects about their product or service, but you will never hear a commercial say that something has history of breaking, or not always working. They make it seem like every consumer needs this cretin product or service, and should not be able to live with out it. That is what you are trying to do on the application, make the employer think they need you as a part of their team.

The same goes for an interview. In an interview be confident, just like the people on commercials are when they are selling a product or service. Tell them all the wonderful things about yourself, you are supposed to brag at an interview. That what they are for, the employer wants to know why they should hire you. You need to give them reason to want to hire you. Just like companies give you reasons to want their products. All of these aspects of finding a job relate to marketing in many ways. In marketing we focus on the positive aspects to every product and service, and in finding a job and marketing yourself, you want to sell the best aspects of yourself to the employer.

Do you think that it is appropriate to "embellish" on a resume, application or in an interview in order to make yourself seem marketable, and an asset to the employer?