As laid out in the Syllabus we will be posting marketing videos on this blog. It will require you review the video and make insightful comments. Please relate the video to the information we covered in class and your daily life.
The primary objective of this course is to introduce students to the world of marketing. In this regard, we will cover an extensive array of important marketing concepts. I am also interested in exposing students to strategic and tactical decision-making as well, important ingredients to being successful in the marketplace. Because students in this class come from different majors within and external to the College of Business and Economics, I will make every effort to link marketing to a wide-range of disciplines. In reality, marketing impacts our lives every day as consumers plus each of you will need to “market” yourself to get a job! Lastly, my personal objective is for you to have fun like posting in this blog. As such, and as you will see, I have included many different types of learning exercises and am utilizing multiple forms of media/technologies, including embedded videos, this class Blog, and in class exercises, Enjoy!!!!
Like most major retailers, Kohl’s uses integrated marketing communications to reach its customers. For this blog, please review as many forms of Kohl’s communications (newspaper ads, TV ads, online ads, emails, store flyers, the retailer’s website, and its Facebook page are some possibilities) as you have available. Once you have done this, consider in your post whether you believe Kohl’s is using the various forms of communication that you looked at to deliver a truly integrated message to its customers. Be specific as you consider what you specifically looked at. Remember, the communications model suggests that not everyone will decode a message in the same way — so you want to take note of whether Kohl’s messages are being received in a similar manner. At least 150 words posted by March 10th , 2024 at 11:30 pm
While hotels and airlines have used dynamic pricing for a long time, the last few years have seen an increase in marketers using dynamic pricing to offer their product/service to consumers at the right price based on time or other factors that allow the company to maximize profit. In the age of “big data” and multi-channel shoppers, retailers and manufacturers have a massive amount of information to use to create dynamic prices. Amazon.com and other e-commerce retailers have popularized this pricing method. But they are not the only ones taking advantage of frequent and real-time pricing strategies.
As an example, a number of professional and collegiate sporting events now price tickets based on demand and offer dynamic pricing instead of standard ticket prices for all games. Bloomberg Business reported certain ski resorts started testing dynamic pricing models in February 2015. Uber’s innovative disruption on taxi services also uses dynamic pricing based on demand, weather conditions, driver availability and other factors. However, posts from Forbes.com and MIT Technology Review suggest consumers may not always be happy with this type of pricing strategy, suggesting marketers must carefully consider the impact of dynamic pricing on consumer attitudes and behaviors.
Marketers continue to use dynamic pricing as a method to increase profit margins in today’s data-driven world.
Assignment: After reading Greg Petro’s article on dynamic pricing which appeared on Forbes.com. Blog on dynamic pricing and then watch the Uber Dynamic Pricing Video. When/where marketers might use it, what ethical concerns do you think consumers might have about marketers using dynamic pricing? Why? At least 150 words posted by Sunday, Feb 18th worth 10 points at 11:30 pm
With Amazon buying Whole Foods the face of retailing is very quickly changing where the concept of Omni-channel retailing is not just a hot button issue for marketers, but a reality. In today’s digital world, manufacturers and retailers need to determine the optimal in-store, online, and mobile experiences desired by their guests. Beyond in-store experiences, marketers also must consider how changes to the store impact other aspects of the supply chain and distribution strategy. Manufacturers for instance might be interested in how retailers can enhance their brand’s experience for the retailer’s customers both in-store and online leading to different distribution partnerships. Retailers also need to determine how to integrate online and offline business practices related to in-store pick-up/returns, online visibility of in-store inventory, mobile payment, among other aspects.
If you owned a local retail grocery store how would you use Omni-Channel marketing to compete with Walmart and Amazon in the future? Be specific about what actions would you take to keep your local customers happy. At least 150 words Due March 3rd at 11:30 pm
Question: Why does the Buick Century have that name?
Answer: Because that’s the average age of the car’s owners. 🙂
For decades, Buick was positioned for older customers. Though the above joke was an exaggeration, Buick’s reputation as an old man’s car was widely held for many years. As of May 2022, Statista reports that Buick has a higher share of 50-64 year old’s than other car makers.
After narrowly escaping the brand’s end altogether, the company is now building on success in the Chinese market to try and attract a new target market here in the U.S.
Who are these customers based on the links below to the recent ads? Using ideas reviewed in the book related to demographics and lifestyles, how has GM segmented the market, what target have they picked for Buick, and how are they positioning themselves for that target market?
Please post in 150-300 words what segmentation and targeting decisions Buick seems to have made, and provide a brief description of the positioning that they’re presenting for this market. Who does the target market appear to be? What kind of marketing vehicles (TV, Radio, Social Media, Mobile, Events…..) would you use now to reach the target audience? Why do you think this would work? Feb 18th before 11:30 pm worth 10 points
Watch video’s below before writing the paper
Recent ads:
A longer video about Buick’s history and its power in the Chinese market:
AI tools can help you study, but they don’t always get the answer right, and sometimes, the material they provide will be from a different perspective than your textbook. That said, AI can be useful for studying in classes like this one because it can help you identify examples of concepts.
Think about who you are as a consumer. Consider some of your interests. Once you have at least three, go to Google Bard (http://bard.google.com), and describe yourself in the prompt, including the characteristics that you identified. Then modify the underlined items in this prompt to better fit you: “Assume that I’m a 20-year-old male who likes Chicago-style pan pizza, the band Led Zeppelin, and the television show Doctor Who. Can you provide examples of the four Ps of marketing that connect to my interests? I’d like at least three examples for each of the Ps.”
Review the output and write an assessment of it. Does it do a good job of helping you understand the four Ps? Why or why not? What could you have added to the prompt to make it more helpful?
Your deliverables are your 150- to 200-word assessment and the output from Google Bard. (To copy the material from Google Bard, scroll to the bottom of the draft you want to keep and click the button with three dots to the right to copy that output set.) You will be graded on how well you followed the directions for using Google Bard as well as the thought you put into your assessment of the results. Due Feb 4th
PLEASE NOTE: This discussion IS NOT about whether you’d buy a diamond online. While that is an interesting topic, it is not relevant to this exercise, and I will delete posts focused on that issue. It is the consumer decision process — not online buying– that is the topic we’re considering here.
Buying a diamond is, for most folks, a high-involvement purchase that requires an extensive decision process. The Blue Nile is an online diamond seller that has designed its website to take account of the likely needs that customers will encounter as they select a stone. Visit the site at www.bluenile.com and watch the commercial then look carefully at the many features on the site. For the purposes of this exercise, imagine that you have decided to buy an engagement ring. You think you want to spend $2,500 for the diamond itself– but that figure is somewhat negotiable (after all, who can put a price on love?) When you write your post, consider exactly how specific features on the site allow you, as the prospective buyer, to move through the decision-making process outlined in Exhibit 6.1 on p. 188 of your text. In your post, you should NOT get involved in whether or not you’d actually buy online, or the relative advantages of offline vs. online–I will delete such posts since they will be off-topic. The purpose of this exercise is to consider how a marketer needs to meet the needs of a consumer at each of the steps of the decision process. So pick ONE of the steps shown in the figure on page 188 and consider how SPECIFIC content on the Blue Nile meets the need you’d have at that stage. Please do NOT discuss site layout or navigation — while they are important topics, they are not sufficiently related to the decision model to “count” for this discussion, and I will delete posts related to such issues.
Count the number of ads you see the next two days, keep a diary. Take it everywhere you go and keep track of the number of ads you see.
Organize by:
TV #
Radio #
Print #
Online #
Social Media#
Billboards#
In-store#.
Packages#
Needs to total at least 50.
How long did it take until you reached 50?
List the top three ads you remember and why?
One Original Post (150-200 words) worth 10 points. Needs to be insightful, well written, and related to your own experience to get full credit.
Please note the name of your instructor and the MKT 311 section you are in on the first line of your post. Several classes will be using this blog. Due Jan 28th, 11:30 pm.