Radio

As a college football fan I listen to a lot of sports talk radio. I have found myself calling local companies that market their business on these talk shows quite a bit. It almost seems subliminal as I may not call a certain company or do business with them immediately, but find myself later needing a service or product that I have heard and give them a try without even giving it a second thought. For this reason I believe the radio is still a very strong marketing tool.

Being Different

The one thing that sticks out to me the most in the two videos we watched this week is on the Guerrilla marking about being different. I can't tell you how many times I personally have made a purchasing decision simply based on what company or product offers something different than the rest. I can see how firms would be afraid to go against the norm for fears that it wouldn't work, but I think more consumers find difference refreshing. If it were all the same in any market then things would become very stale quickly.

Public Relations

Public relations can help large firms like the one I currently work for by creating an image of caring about the community. My company hosts and takes part in numerous fundraising events geared to genuinely help a certain cause and also to keep a positive image amongst the community. I am sure that every large firm or business does this in some form or fashion and it can also serve as a great way to get the company name out there to potential customers who might not have known about it otherwise.

Get in or get left behind

If you are a new company and are not using the e-market in some form or fashion then I believe you are at a huge disadvantage against other companies. The way technology and society is shifting towards a connected to the internet way of doing everything, companies that choose not to get on board will get left behind and lose so much opportunity in potential sales due the the marketing environment it opens up for them.

Penetration

I just heard last week that the company I work for will be laying out a plan to penetrate a market it has left untouched for some years now. I assume the business unit will weigh the costs and risks versus the rewards involved in such a venture. It will be interesting to get to see this play out and whether or not it is a successful venture or failure. If it succeeds it could mean huge profits and ramp ups in production which would in turn mean more jobs.

Location

I came to my parents to watch football with my father today and we got in a discussion about what to eat. Dad and I decided we wanted BBQ from this little place near here off of a back country road that was fairly new. This little place had great food and service, but from what I could tell did no marketing. Mom informed us that they had went out of business a few weeks ago. I believe it was due to a lack of marketing and definitely poor choice of location as this was horribly far from the high populated areas of town where someone can easily get BBQ if they wanted it.
I think this was a case of tough market to enter especially with such a horrible location.

Pricing

This is a good subject for me. My father and I used to have our own auto glass replacement business.
We based our pricing on costs of goods and perishables needed to provide the service such as the glass and materials and tools needed, along with the gas for our trucks as we were a completely mobile business. We did great for about 9 years without being properly funded or having a business model or plan. We targeted the market we already serviced for a company we worked for years before. The problem came when the economy collapsed and customers did not want to pay for something they didn't really "need". Our biggest selling point was our incredible service, but sometimes there were issues with our prices. We based our prices on what we could do the job for and just barely make a profit to survive. I am curious how a new company with a new product or service decides on what is a "good" or "fair" price.

Branding is strong

Branding as a marketing tool can be so strong that we as consumers often dont even think about our purchases. We do them strictly on instinct and vision alone. I for one am a golfer and the brand I love is Callaway. If I see that logo I will buy it if it is something I need or want and will not even consider another brand. Having a strong brand maybe the best marketing tool there is in my opinion.

Word of mouth

I was just thinking today at work the power or word of mouth marketing.
I am guilty myself of deciding to try or not to try a certain restaurant or product just by simply forming an opinion based on what others around me say.
If I get mixed emotions from a group of people I will most likely try it for myself but if they all say negative things I will opt not to try a place or product all together.
As a business owner a person should take every sale and or service provided as if that customer was the most important person alive to keep word of mouth marketing positive.

Targeting and segmentation

I decided to make this weeks blog about the company I work for and how it found a seemingly untapped segment of a somewhat crowded market. I will not name the company or the market, but I will say that instead of supplying brick and mortar stores with product in hopes that it sells, my company ventured out and went straight to small and large businesses that could use our product. It basically cut out the middle man and the hassles of going to the brick and mortar stores to acquire the product. Instead we ship direct to the customer. I used to think it was dumb, but the more I learn in my business classes I see it is quite brilliant and has proved to be a thriving choice.

Lack of Marketing

So everyday I drive around or talk to people I know and try to take in all the marketing and lack there of around me. Yesterday while speaking to my family I was informed that a small local store that makes these wonderful pizzas has also been crafting these oven baked super subs and mega hotdogs. They apparently are huge sellers and there is a pretty big demand for the small community that it services. The problem I noticed is that this store owner has not even attempted to market this seemingly substantial demand for these subs and franks. They are attempting to rely solely on word of mouth advertising. I just think with some cheap flyers or even a sign on the store somewhere they could spark more business with these different foods.

Attempt at broadening the target

I recently have seen some commercials for NERF Rebelle.
For those that do not know of NERF if is normally a foam based product, particularly in the design of sports oriented equipment such as footballs. I grew up playing with these toys and have noticed them evolve over the years.  The Rebelle line is an attempt by the company to attract the female market by advertising its products using girls playing with them. Toys such as foam arrow shooting bows and guns that fire foam darts that hidden messages can be written and read on. I personally thought it was a brilliant idea to capture a seemingly untapped market by the company thats focus has been on boys for as long as I can remember.

Starving for Marketing

Last weekend I went with my sister and a friend to Grumpy's Bar and Grill in town.
This was a Friday night and the place was dead.
What used to be a packed social gathering hub was now about 15 over 40 people singing karaoke.
It got me to thinking, where is the marketing for Grumpy's? I have never heard a commercial on the radio or seen an ad in the paper. I have not even seen a social media posting of any kind at least talking about different events for different nights of the week. I just think that the owner or owners could do a much better job at marketing to keep customers wanting to return and pack the place out like it did upon its grand opening months.

Technology

I would love to come up with some simple, yet well thought out idea for some sort of application that people would love to have and use on a daily basis. One that I could create and sell very cheap, but get a huge return on due to the fact that no brick and mortar building would be necessary. I think that the rate at which technology is advancing, this type of business venture would be and probably already is booming. The trick is coming up with that niche type of idea that nobody has yet, or improving one already out there.

Marketing/Business plan

I was a little lost as to how and what to do in regards to coming up with a new business idea and getting it started. After reading chapter 11 it made it a lot less overwhelming and scary.
Its simplicity and obvious necessity are comforting for me at least.
I am not sure I will ever try to start my own business as I am getting this degree to help me move up at my current job, but if i do this makes it less of an impossible idea.

Random idea at work

While chatting with my office colleague today at work, we discussed starting a 24 hour access health and wellness/gym facility that could offer everything the aquatic center offers but with improvements in the areas that it lacks and offering 24 hour access.