Week 5 EOC: Social Networks and Job Hunting

As technology develops and society stays "in-tune" with advances, companies are finding new ways to market their products and hire loyal associates.  Social networking sites are quickly becoming a mainstream method of finding employees for major companies such as Sony, Microsoft, and McDonald's.  Companies such as these are trolling Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for loyal customers who are already promoting products.  "They sometimes search blogs and online social networks to identify individuals who are already functioning as brand advocates" (http://digitalbookshelf.artinstitutes.edu/#/books/9780558851903/pages/48921908).  The convenient part about this type of marketing is, the companies simply depend on peer-to-peer networking and word of mouth to promote their product.  "For the ambassadors, it’s often a labor of love more than a paying job" (http://digitalbookshelf.artinstitutes.edu/#/books/9780558851903/pages/48921908).
While Facebook and Twitter don't give the professional "vibe" as LinkedIn, it can still be used as a valuable marketing tool.  LinkedIn provides employers with professional information such as resumes, recommendations, and professional connections.  However, Facebook has been proving itself to be just as valuable.  Jobs can be posted on Facebook as well as videos of certain job descriptions.  "In addition to posting jobs and videos of current employees on its Facebook page, the company has recruiters and other employees find user groups and join discussions" (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903885604576490763...).  
With more and more technological advances and social networking sites make their marks, more companies will continue to look to these sources to engage employees.  Companies are slowly forming teams within the company dedicated to strictly social media trolling.

Week 4: B-to-B Customer Partnerships

               When trying to market products, the consumer market can be a hostile world.  You could grab any Sunday newspaper and find a dozen ads marketing the same type of product with competitive prices.  For instance, refrigerators have a large, competitive consumer market.  Consumers can be influenced by several factors when making a decision on a product.  A consumer may be influenced by price, product features, manufacturer’s reputation, or even visual appeal.

               When marketing, it is important to consider the five stages of a buyer’s decision process (http://www.udel.edu/alex/chapt6.html):

1.     Need recognition

2.     Information search

3.     Evaluation of alternatives

4.     Purchase

5.     Post-purchase evaluation

A buyer must first understand his/her need for a new product.  Once a need is recognized, the buyer will do research on the best possible solutions to his/her need.  This research may include pricing, comparing models, and/or reading reviews of products/companies.  After research is done, the buyer will more than likely have a decision in mind.  He/She may evaluate the alternatives to the product or even alternatives to the original need.  The buyer will then make the purchase.  Finally, the buyer will evaluate the product and determine whether the product was a valuable investment or not. 

               When a new product is released, it is typically diffused into the market in five stages(faculty.swosu.edu/.../New%20product%20adoption%20&):

1.     Innovators – well-educated risk takers

2.     Early adopters – opinion leaders

3.     Early majority – middle class

4.     Late majority – older, conservative

5.     Laggards/non-adopters – traditional, conservative, refuses change

A business market is defined as “actual or nominal place where forces of demand and supply operate, and where buyers and sellers interact (directly or through intermediaries) to trade goods, services, or contracts or instruments, for money or barter” (http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/market.html)  There are several factors that influence a business buyer’s behavior:

1.     Cultural factors – culture/social class

2.     Social factors – family, roles

3.     Personal factors – personality/lifestyle

4.     Psychological – perception/learning

There are eight general steps in the business buying process:

1.     Need recognition

2.     Definition of characteristics and quantity

3.     Development of specs

4.     Search for suppliers

5.     Proposal or quote solicitation

6.     Evaluation of proposals and supplier selection

7.     Selection of an order routine

8.     Performance evaluation and feedback

Week 3 EOC: My Demographics

            Who is the millennial generation?  "People born between the years of 1980 and 2000 are considered to be the millennial generation."(http://thesocietypages.org/graphicsociology/2011/10/04/who-is-the-millennial-generation-pew-research/).  This generation accounts for the majority of the post-secondary education population.

            When compared to the Baby Boomer generation, the millennial generation has been found to place a higher importance on financial well-being. “For example, college students in 1971 ranked the importance of being very well off financially No. 8 in their life goals, but since 1989, they have consistently placed it at the top of the list” (http://chronicle.com/article/Millennials-Are-More/131175/). 

There are numerous significant changes in mindsets as well as marketing targets.  Demographic is defined as “relating to the dynamic balance of a population especially with regard to density and capacity for expansion or decline” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/demographic).  When watching television in today’s society, it is easy to identify the target demographic of commercials and product advertisements.  Products are being advertised to target certain demographics and generations.  For example: products are using current pop singers to advertise products such as headphones or cologne/perfume.  Society is seeing more and more celebrities start their own product lines for fragrances, clothing, and even foods.  These products target certain populations within society.  You can find the commercials and advertisements during certain shows (i.e. The Bachelor, Big Brother, etc.).  Companies can even target certain channels that are geared toward the millennial generation: MTV, Comedy Central, E!, and ABC are a few.  Companies can target advertisements in magazines also.  For example, if a makeup company is marketing a new product, they would want to advertise in a magazine that they know females read (i.e. Cosmopolitan). 

The millennial generation is a generation that has seen huge growths in advertising and marketing.  From advertising products in newspapers/magazines to advertising on apps on smartphones, the transition has been quick.  This generation is tech savvy and this will continue to help marketing for years to come.

Week 3 EOC: Making Money for Good

(RED) is a marketing company that uses comparably priced products to help fund the development of AIDS research.  It’s a very simple concept and very easy for consumers to support.  When shoppers purchase products from (RED), up to 50% of the profit from the product goes straight to AIDS research.  Many manufacturers have partnered with (RED) to help support this movement.   (RED) does not manufacture the products, they simply distribute them. "The funds that are earned come straight from the manufacturer and go to the Global Fund."  For example: when an Apple iPhone case is purchased using (RED), Apple will donate up to 50% of the profit directly Global Funds, not to (RED) (http://www.joinred.com/aboutred/how-red-works/).  The funds that are sent to Global Funds go completely to finance HIV/AIDS programs and support treatment to prevent transmission of AIDS from mothers to children. 

            (RED) was started over 4 years ago by Bono (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/06/business/06red.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0).  The campaign raised nearly $22 million in the first year of its existence.  Branding everything from t-shirts to iPods to laptops, “(Product)RED” can be found on thousands of products.  “According to Rwandan officials, Red contributions have built 33 testing and treatment centers, supplied medicine for more than 6,000 women to keep them from transmitting H.I.V. to their babies, and financed counseling and testing for thousands more patients.”  Apple has been a major contributor to (RED).  “Since its introduction, (PRODUCT) RED has generated more than $190 million — more than $50 million from Apple alone — for the Global Fund” (https://www.apple.com/product-red/).  In 2010 there were 1000 babies born with HIV each day.  In 2011 there were 900.  The goal for (RED) is to have that number near zero by 2015.  

Week 2 EOC: Boston Consulting Group - Video Games

            Over the past few decades, video game console marketing has been a rollercoaster ride for manufacturers.  It seems as if every year a new console is being released as a brand new console, an upgrade to an existing console, or free online gaming (ie. Facebook, Apple’s App Store, or Android Marketplace).  At the turn of the century “more than 200 million Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 systems were sold worldwide. Upward of 12 million subscribers were paying $15 a month to play the online game World of Warcraft” (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/arts/video-games/video-game-retail-sales-decline-despite-new-hits.html?pagewanted=all). 

            In 2011, “Sony has reached a milestone. The company announced that sales for the PlayStation 3 have reached 50 million units worldwide in the five years since its debut” (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2383692,00.asp).  For this reason alone, it is safe to say that Sony’s Playstation 3 (PS3) can be considered a “cash cow.”  The PS3 has been around for nearly six years and is still selling strong.  Its Blu-Ray player separates it from its counterparts: Microsoft’s X-Box and Nintendo’s Wii.  With online instant streaming, downloads and Blu-Ray taking over the video world and making DVDs obsolete, the PS3 may have solidified its place in the entertainment world for quite some time.

            Playstation 3’s “ancient” sibling, the original Playstation, can easily be considered a “dog.”  The original Playstation was, at one point, top-notch technology.  However, it quickly became obsolete with the technology world booming.  Apple’s iPad 3 could easily be considered a “star.”  Apple produces high-demand products and experiences heavy sale volume at the products’ release. "The new iPad is a blockbuster with three million sold―the strongest iPad launch yet," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/19/ipad-sales-first-weekend_n_1365421.html).  Eventually the sales die down and the products revert back into dogs with the release of the next model/product.

            A question mark in the video game realm could be the Barnes and Noble Nook.  The Nook is a lower end tablet with many competitors.  Barnes and Noble does not quite need as many investors as Apple due to its sub-par sales volume.  

Week 1 EOC: Great Customer Service

      Recently I got married here in Las Vegas.  Everything was going smoothly, appointments were met and we were about to have our dream wedding without a hitch, or so we thought.  I am three days out from our wedding and I receive a phone call from the director of the wedding venue we had chosen.  She called to tell me that their facility (our venue for our reception) had been closed down by the Food and Health Administration due to a recent party getting food poisoning and some other health code violations.  I was devastated because,  I had booked this venue (my dream venue) 9 months in advance.  At this point I was sure that the wedding I had longed for was no longer possible but I sucked it up and moved forward.   
On the day of the wedding I was slightly apprehensive but all of my anxieties and worries disappeared that day.  I was pleasantly surprised by the staff and they went above and beyond all of my expectations to where I had forgotten about the change of venue and all the stress that came with it.  There was one person who stood out among the rest and that was our DJ.  I had no expectations of the DJ but he treated me like a princess and made sure that there was nothing for me to worry about except for enjoying my day.  He went above and beyond by bringing me drinks, asking if there were any special people I would like to recognize.  He even included all of my friends and family in our reception by announcing my husband’s five year old niece’s birthday.  It was his personal service that made my wedding reception so memorable.  Like many brides we spent an arm and a leg on our wedding but having superior service made it completely worth it. “Customer relationships and value are especially important in today’s tough economic times, when more frugal consumers are cutting back and spending more carefully.” (Marketing: An Introduction, pg 4)   Although I do not plan on getting married again, I will continue to recommend him to any and all of my friends with upcoming weddings. 

Week 1 EOC:My Voice

      Photography is a way to capture moments that will last for a lifetime.  I have always had a love for taking photos.   I always considered it a hobby but recently I have come to realize just how passionate I am about it.  There are a million different avenues of photography and I want to dive into them all.  Upon coming to The Art Institute, I was interested in taking newborn photography but the more I have experimented and learned about lighting and the different techniques, I have found myself leaning toward food, fashion and portrait photography.  I really love how these types of photography allow for so much creativity.   It is amazing to me that a photo can change people’s perception of the world around them.  Something that might seem boring or bland can be translated into something beautiful and amazing just through a photo.  Taking photos gives me the opportunity to express myself freely and not be tied down by anyone's rules or expectations.  My long term goal would be to have my own photography business and cater to any and all types of photography.   I hope that I can inspire people with my photos and express a side of myself that isn’t easily expressed through words.