Week 5 EOC: Social Networks and Job Hunting

It seems social networks are the work horses in the marketing realm today. After reading the Brand Ambassadors section in the book it was very helpful in understanding companies tactics and plans. In today's generation the amount of power the people have is incredible. And from the article it appears the companies and Marketing groups recognize the consumers influence. "Marketers often try to identify opinion leaders for their products and direct marketing efforts toward them. They use buzz marketing by enlisting or even creating opinion leaders to serve as “brand ambassadors” who spread the word about their products. Many companies are now creating brand ambassadors programs in an attempt to turn influential but everyday customers into brand evangelists" Armstrong & Kotler: Marketing pg 142. When they can choose ambassadors to represent their product in a social environment It basically becomes free advertisement. With Marketing teams starting to realize this over time, its companies are becoming more broadly recognized and considered.

Week 4 EOC: Business to Business

The difference between business to business and consumer marketing is business to business is a more thought out process which takes in a lot more factors then the average consumer would take in. When businesses buy for their company they're filling a hefty list of requisites. This includes technical and economic considerations, interactions within the buyers, and businesses buying process is more formalized compared to the Consumer. "Business buyers usually face more complex buying decisions than do consumer buyers. Business purchases often involve large sums of money, complex technical and economic considerations, and interactions among many people at many levels of the buyer’s organization. Because the purchases are more complex, business buyers may take longer to make their decisions. The business buying process also tends to be more formalized than the consumer buying process." Armstrong & Kotler: Marketing Pg. 160 Consumer's buy strickly on a need or a want and when money is in the hands of the consumer it becomes a demand. Consumer's only take into affect what they need in the moment. Their's no lengthy trial and discussion process with a product being purchased by an average consumer. "Finally, business markets have more fluctuating demand. The demand for many business goods and services tends to change more—and more quickly—than the demand for consumer goods and services does. A small percentage increase in consumer demand can cause large increases in business demand. Sometimes a rise of only 10 percent in consumer demand can cause as much as a 200 percent rise in business demand during the next period" Armstrong & Kotler: Marketing Pg.160

Week 3 EOC: My Demographics

"One thing that all of the Millennial's have in common is their utter fluency and comfort with digital technology. They don’t just embrace technology, it’s a way of life. The Millennial's were the first generation to grow up in a world filled with computers, cellphones, satellite TV, IPods, and online social networks. A recent study found that 91 percent of Millennial's are on the Web, making up 32 percent of all U.S. Internet users. According to another study, 77 percent of Millennial's frequent social networking sites and 71 percent use instant messaging. “All generations are comfortable with technology, but this is the generation that’s been formed by technology,” says a Yahoo! executive. For them, “it’s not something separate. It’s just something they do.” Armstrong & Kotler: Marketing Pg. 74 Do I agree with this? Yes! I feel that the definition well suits me in particular and I think it describes a lot of people in our generation. Everything in my daily life will one way or another use technology! And technology is known as well as the back of my hand. There’s not a lot that we can’t figure out when it comes to computers, cellphones, TV, IPods, and online social networks! When you look at previous generations its hard for us to understand that they didn’t grow up with the same technology. Something so easy for us to do can be hardly understandable. I have a couple family members that still don’t even use cell phones or a computer. When I reference anything about our technology today it’s a foreign language to them.

Week 3 EOC: Making Money for Good

A company that has strived to make a difference in the world through a charity is Safeway. On a list of charitable companies that compete, Safeway ranks 3rd in the United States by donating 7.5% of its total profits in 2009. So in 2010 Safeway gave away $76,500,000 to popular causes including Breast Cancer awareness, Prostate Cancer awareness, Easter Seals, Special Olympics, and Muscular Dystrophy Association. The company has constantly striven to push donations through checkout lines in all 1,964 Stores across the country and that number is growing. “Cause-related marketing has become a primary form of corporate giving. It lets companies ‘do well by doing good’ by linking purchases of the company’s products or services with fund-raising for worthwhile causes or charitable organizations.” Armstrong & Kotler: Marketing Pg 88. When you go shopping at Vons here in Nevada, you're really shopping at Safeway. Everything is stilled owned by Safeway it’s just let the name Vons remain because that would be considered a monopoly to take over every "Vons". Safeway uses a philosophy that they strive on and teach, this being Customer Service. The customer always comes first when working for Safeway. They feel if they can please the customer the customer will return to shop at a store that provides quality service. By doing this customers are more apt to Donate or round of to the nearest dollar amount for one of the Causes being implemented at the time. “To exercise their social responsibility and build more positive images, many companies are now linking themselves to worthwhile causes. These days, every product seems to be tied to some cause.” Armstrong & Kotler: Marketing Pg. 86.

Week 2 EOC: Boston Consulting Group - Video Games

When we take a look at the BGC analasys of video game consoles today there's a similar analasys on each console. They all currently land inbetween 'Cash Cow' and 'Dog'. The market for each of these consoles has slowly dwindled and are not looking up. Since these products have been out for sometime now. The market is not in a buying mood. The phone industry is the dominant force right now. Because their easily accesible and offer really good graphics with little effort to play. With a console you need a dedicated gamer to sit down and play the game. But the market for the phones are high and the potential buyers market is huge. So phones sit inbetween the Star and Question Mark.

Week 1 EOC: Great Customer Service

My first superior customer service I experienced happened earlier last year when my friends and I stopped at a local Arby’s to eat. It wasn't necessarily the customer service in the beginning that won us over; it was the way they responded in a tough situation.  In our case we ordered a fair amount of food between the three of us and the total came to $16. We preceded to hand them a payment via Debit Card and the machine was having a difficult time. At first our patience was fairly intact but after the third to fourth failed attempt to properly get our card wiped and payment fulfilled our patience dwindled. We had already pointed out that we were displeased with the service they were providing. They responded in a professional manner and for the most part I could tell the cash register girl was genuinely concerned and embarrassed that this issue was happening. I’m sure we were of no convenience when we walked in 10 minutes prior to close. But that is no excuse because they run a business from the hours posted on the outside door. So after the girl at the register continued to fail at getting our payment through she proceeded to converse with the only other employee there.
“Many sellers make the mistake of paying more attention to the specific products they offer than to the benefits and experiences produced by these products. These sellers suffer from marketing myopia. They are so taken with their products that they focus only on existing wants and lose sight of underlying customer needs. They forget that a product is only a tool to solve a consumer problem.” Armstrong & Kotler: Marketing Pg 7.
With that being said I feel the employee forgot what was really important but within time she realized the customer need was what’s important at the end of the day. Eventually they provided an excellent service to us. Why you ask? After a total of a 14 minute wait they gave it to us all for free, including free desserts as an extra apology.

Week 1 EOC: My Voice

I want to bring a new dimension of skills to the industry today. I want to specialize in Filmmaking for the Music Video Industry and create an unbeatable customer satisfaction rate, along with the highest standard of video quality around. My passion for music is what’s pushed me personally to want to pursue the video side of music. The visuals of a song can speak just as loud as the song itself. I want to make a connection through people I have never met simply by them watching a Music Video. Film allows us to take a vision and record it digitally to share. In my case I have always wanted and have been intrigued with the works of a professional music video! The companies that currently work this area of the film world are amazing at what they do, nonetheless, but I believe it’s not a friendly price figure to pull in a mass audience of potential buyers. This is where I believe I can take over and provide, produce, and direct affordable music videos to the general public. It’s been in my blood since I was a little kid to record songs and to make music videos for them. Granted I haven’t learned nor captured the best quality yet. I’m taking the steps to bring some of the most creative, modern, and tech savvy Music Videos this Industry has ever had.