In response to Tammy Chou's post

What type of media do you think is the most beneficial and effective? Do you think that one has a stronger strength than the other?

I believe that owned media is the most beneficial and effective type of media. With today's society, social media is a part of everyday life, and people make an effort to stay tuned into social media throughout their day. A lot of the content for owned media is based online, and the online market has been getting more and more popular as the years go by. Owned media can also include blogs. I believe that blogs can tell a lot about a person, or a company, and if a company were to have their own blog, they will be able to reach out to consumers on a deeper level. I firmly believe that social media is one of the strongest ways to market and sell a product with today's society

The Product Life Cycle

The Product Life Cycle is one of the most familiar concepts in marketing. It is a biological metaphor that traces the stages of a product's acceptance, from its introduction (birth) to its decline (death). This cycle has four main stages:

1. Introductory stage
2. Growth stage
3. Maturity stage
4. Decline stage


The Product Life Cycle can be used to analyze a brand, a product form, or a product category. The product life cycle for a product form is usually longer than a product life cycle for any one brand. The exception would be a brand that was first and last competitor in a product form market. In that situation, the brand and product form life cycles would be equal in length.

Can you think of a product that is in the decline stage? If so, why do you think the product is in this stage of the Product Life Cycle?

In response to Kaley DeBoer's post

Do you believe social media marketing is beneficial, or do you think it hasn't quite reached it's maturity enough to be successful?

I personally believe that social media marketing is beneficial. Social media is becoming more and more popular with today's society, and does not have any intention of stopping. Within the upcoming years, social media will continue to grow, and I feel as though social media marketing is great for making a business successful. For businesses that have Twitter or Facebook pages, this opens up an entire world for the business to market in. Overall, I think that social media benefits businesses substantially.

Sampling

This week in class we talked about sampling. Sampling occurs when the researcher gathers information from the subset of a population to make inferences. When sampling, it is a good idea to randomize where you get the information from, or else you might get false results.
When sampling, there are two different types of sampling, a sampling error, and a non sampling error. A sampling error occurs in the difference between the truth of the target population and its sample estimate. Non-sampling error is a measurement error, which are mistakes made by the researcher such as recording the information incorrectly, gathering it incorrectly, etc.

Can you think of a point in time where there was a sampling error? What about a non sampling error?

In response to Melissa Moriwaki's post

How do you think this will effect doughnut customers? Will they still think of Dunkin Donuts when looking to find a doughnut if DD's isn't marketing towards doughnut eaters anymore? How will this effect Dunkin Donuts?

I believe this change in marketing may hurt Dunkin Donuts. After many years Dunkin Donuts has been known for their donuts and pastries; even their name has "donut" in it! The reputation that Dunkin Donuts has built up has been centered around donuts so straying away from this product might hurt them quite a bit. I think that in order to stay financially stable, Dunkin Donuts is going to have to come up with a new idea that will overpower their well known reputation for donuts. 

Promotion

As stated in our textbook, promotion is defined as "communication by marketers that informs, persuades, and reminds potential buyers of a product in order to influence an opinion or elicit a response."

These are the parts to the promotional mix:

Advertising is "any form of impersonal, one-way mass communication about a product or organization that is paid for by a marketer."
Public Relations is "the marketing function that evaluates public attitudes, identifies areas within the organization the public may be interested in, and executes a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance."
Sales Promotion is "marketing activities that stimulate consumer buying and dealer effectiveness."
Personal Selling is "a purchase situation involving a personal, paid-for communication between two people in an attempt to influence each other."
Social Media are "promotion tools used to facilitate conversations among people online."

Do you believe that promoters need all parts of the promotional mix in order to promote their product? If not, why?

In response to Katie Longchamp's post

Can you think of some other products that have an inelastic demand?  Do you believe the consumer has any control over prices of products with an inelastic demand?  Why or why not?


Another example of an inelastic demand is heat. People need heat in order to stay warm during the winter, and sometimes the spring and fall. No matter what the price of heat is, society still finds it a necessity to pay for it in order to survive. I do not believe that the consumer has control over the price of heat. The more people that need heat in their homes, the more that it is going to cost the company to supply the heat. 

Pricing

During class this week, we talked about the concept of pricing. More specifically, the importance of price to marketing managers. Managers usually strive to charge a price that will earn a fair profit. To earn a profit, managers must choose a price that is not too low or too high, or in other words, a price that equals the perceived value to targeted customers. Trying to set the right price is one of the most stressful and pressure-filled tasks of the marketing manager. Trends in the consumer market attest:

- Confronting a flood of new products, potential buyers carefully evaluate the price of each one against the value of existing products.

- The increased availability of bargain-priced private and generic brands has put a downward pressure on overall prices.

- Many firms are trying to maintain or regain their market shares by cutting prices.

- The internet has made a comparison shopping easier.

- The United States was in a recession from late 2007 until 2009 and was still recovering very slowly in 2011.

How do you think marketing managers choose the appropriate price for a product? What factors do they take into consideration when setting a price?

In response to Melissa Moriwaki

What is your opinion on these April Fools Day products? Are they helping the brands? Why or why not?

After reading Melissa's post, I believe that the April Fools Day products could help or hurt the brands depending on the audience. I think that younger generations would like the commercials because of the sense of humor used in the ads. Especially with younger people, the funny commercials will stay in their minds when they are out and about or out shopping. As for the older generations, I feel that if the consumer already uses the product and sees a funny commercial about it, they will find it funny, but as for adults who do not use the product I do not see how they would be affected by the funny commercials.

Factors Affecting Channel Choice

In class this week, we talked about the factors that affect channel choice. Managers must answer quite a few questions before choosing a market channel. In order to a choose a market channel, managers must analyze several factors, which interact often. Theses factors are normally grouped as market factors, product factors, and producer factors.

Producer Factors: Factors having to do with the producer are very important to the selection of a market channel. In general, producers with large, financial, managerial, and marketing resources are better abel to use more direct channels

Product Factors: Products that are more complex, customized, and expensive tend to benefit from shorter and more direct marketing channels.

Market Factors: Target customer considerations is one of the most important market factors affecting the choice of distribution channel. Specifically, managers should answer certain questions: Who are the potential customers? What do they buy? Where do they buy? When do they buy? How do they buy? In addition, the choice of channel depends on whether the producer is selling to consumers or to industrial customers.


Out of these 3 group factors, which one do you think is the most effective when it comes to channel choice?

In response to Katie Longchamp's post

After some research, a company that I found that Amazon.com uses one on one marketing. Amazon offers users targeted offers and related products. Once a customer of Amazon buys a product, Amazon will offer other products that the consumer might like based off of what they had purchased in the past.
As an Amazon user myself, I think that this company is doing very well using the one on one marketing. Whenever I purchase a product from Amazon, they always recommend me another product that I may be interested in or something similar to what I have already purchased. Overall, I feel that Amazon has a great amount of success from one on one marketing.

Self Concept

As described in our book, self concept, or self perception is consumers perceive themselvels. Self-concept includes, attitudes, perceptions, beliefs, and self evaluations. Although self concept may change, the change is often gradual. Through self concept, people define their identity, which in turn provides for consistent and coherent behavior.
Self concept combines two different types of self image. The first is ideal self image, which is the way an individual would like to be perceived. The second is real self image, which is how an individual actually perceives himself or herself. In today's society, we generally try to raise our real self-image toward our ideal self image or at least narrow the gap between them. An example of this would be someone who sees herself as a trendsetter, and wouldn't buy clothing that doesn't project a contemporary image.

Can any of you think of a certain time that you wanted to buy a product to raise your real self-image? If so, did you end up buying the product?

Consumer Involvement

     In class this week, we talked about the factors determining the level of consumer involvement. The level of involvement in the purchase depends on the following factors:

1. Previous experience- when consumers have had previous experience with a good or service, the level of involvement typically decreases. After repeated product trials, consumer learn to make quick choices.

2. Interest- Involvement in directly related to consumer interests, as in cars, music, movies, or electronics. A person highly involved in their interest, such as bikes, will be more interested in that topic and spend much more time evaluating different types of bikes.

3. Perceived risk of negative consequences- As the perceived risk in purchasing a product increases, so does the consumer's level of involvement. The types of risk that concern consumers include financial risk, social risk, and psychological risk.

4. Social visibility- Involvement also increases as the social visibility of a product increases. They make a statement about the purchaser and carry a social risk.


What level do you think relates most to your consumer involvement?

In response to Katie Longchamp's post

Can you think of any products in which consumer perception caused them to flop?


After doing some research, I found a product in which consumer perception caused them to flop. According to the website, The Research Bunker,  a product called LifeSavers Drink suffered from consumer perception.

Source: http://rmsbunkerblog.wordpress.com/tag/product-flops/

The perception of this product was comparable to consuming a bottle of liquid candy. Everybody loves candy, but occasionally people have to limit themselves to the amount that they consume, and consumers took this into account before buying the product.

In Response to Tammy Chou

Which category of new product do you think is the most popular, why? Do you think by looking at the new product of Diet Pepsi with its new packaging it would target you to buy the product?


            I believe that the category of new product that is most popular would have to be additions to existing product lines. Many companies already have really successful product lines that they would not think to get rid of, but they also want to expand on their customer's favorite products. Additions to existing product lines would expand the products, and give consumers a bigger variety of the the product that they love and enjoy.
            Looking at the new product of Diet Pepsi, I would definitely buy the new product. The new product packaging is sleek, new and fresh for todays consumers. If I saw new packaging for Diet Pepsi, I would definitely want to try it out considering I already enjoy the other Diet Pepsi products.

Branding

    In class this week, we discussed the topic of branding. Branding is the main tool marketers use to distinguish their products from those of their competitors. Branding consists of a brand, a brand name, and a brand mark. A brand is a name, term, symbol, design or combination that identifies a seller's product. A brand name is that part of a brand that can be spoken, including letters. A brand mark is the elements of the brand that cannot be spoken.
    We also went deeper into branding with its benefits. Branding has three main purposes:

1. Product Identification: Branding allows marketers to distinguish their products from all others.

2. Repeat Sales: This is the best generator to satisfy customers. Branding helps consumers identify           products that they want to buy again.

3. Facilitate New-Product Sales: Having a well-known respected company and brand name is extremely useful when introducing new products.

With these benefits, a company can continue to gain sales, have their customers identify their products, and keep them interested when introducing new products.


Do you believe that one of these purposes are more significant than another when it comes to branding? If so, why do think so?

In response of Nick Vita's post

Nick asked us, "Do you agree that the NFL should stop advertising on uniforms?"

 I disagree with Nick on this. I believe that advertising on uniforms is a great way for a professional/ club sports team to gain an income when they need it. Although on some uniform designs, the advertisement is front and center, and the team name is much smaller and normally in the corner, I believe it is a great way for the team to get their names out there in the market and get more offers for advertisement. Even though the uniforms with the advertisement logos don't necessarily show off the team name, the uniforms will be rememberable by the unique design of the advertisement.

Culture

 As discussed in Chapter 5 of our textbook, Culture underlies the family, the educational system, religion, and the social class system. The network of social organizations generates overlapping roles and status positions. These values and roles have a huge effect on people's preferences and on marketers' options. A company that does not understand a country's culture will most likely fail in that country.
 An example of culture differences is when people in India shake hands, they sometimes shake hands rather limply. This is because in India, a soft handshake conveys respect, and not as a sign of weakness or disinterest.
 Another example of culture differences in other countries is selling Broadway plays to other countries. The rights to reproduce Broadway plays are increasingly being sold overseas. However, the plays encounter some difficulty in translating cultural idioms and humor in other languages.

Can you think of any companies that have gone through a cultural roadblock? If so, what did they do to overcome this problem?

In response to Tammy Chou

Were you satisfied with a product targeted towards your lifestyle?

I have purchased many products towards my lifestyle and have been completely satisfied with them. One in particular is my Nike sneakers. I like to go to the gym on a regular basis and Nike is a great brand for people with an active lifestyle like myself. After purchasing and using the sneakers, I have yet to be disappointed in Nike. The sneakers are comfortable and durable, which is what I was looking for in a pair of sneakers. I will definitely continue to buy Nike sneakers and even more of their products. 

Self Regulation and Government Regulation

Self regulation and government regulatory agencies need each other to work efficiently. Self regulation is defined as control by oneself or itself, as in an economy or business, especially such control as exercised independently of government supervision or laws. Government regulatory agencies do their job by making sure the business environment is fair, allowing room for companies to have their own morals, rules, and ways of running the business.Without government regulatory agencies, the business world would have no guidelines or set of ground rules that society would expect them to follow. On the other hand, without self regulation, companies would have no room to be unique or different.

Do you know of a company that relies solely on government regulation?