Blog 8: Final Reflection

We have finally reached the end of the semester! This week marks my last week of marketing classes, and with it, I’m sad to say, will most likely be my final blog post. As a result, I wanted to reflect on some of the objectives that I have achieved this semester in my marketing class.

Without further adieu, here are five of the objectives I feel I have achieved this semester through taking this course.

Objective # 1: Understand that the marketing process starts and ends with customers and consumers.

This objective is arguably one of the most important takeaways of the course in my opinion, because if there’s one thing that I learned about marketing this semester its that consumers matter. Whether its their positive or negative input, customer feedback is essential to the marketing process because it dictates what changes will be brought about for the product in its production phases and furthermore it effects how many more consumers will be interested in buying the product in the future. Being aware that the marketing process is a continuous cycle implicitly tied to consumers and their opinions is extremely important.

Objective # 2: Analyze and evaluate basic financial statements and business formulas (profit, ROI, etc.)

I am most proud to have achieved this objective this semester, because financial analysis is not my strong suit. By working on my practice marketing simulation, I was able to further my understanding of how to analyze financial data in order to determine what decisions I should make for my business. Without the practice marketing simulation, I would not have been able to develop the skills necessary to perform such financial analysis all on my own.

Objective # 3: To have the opportunity to put marketing into action via team and individual projects, research, reports and presentations.

Throughout the course we were given the opportunity to integrate marketing concepts we were learning in class and from the textbook into our own work, whether it be individually or in teams. Specifically, I think that I was able to develop stronger presentation skills this semester by doing presentations such as my TED talk, commercial critiques, and practice marketing analysis.

Objective #4: Participate and communicate as an effective member of a team.

The hardest objective for me to achieve this semester was how to maximize the productivity of my practice marketing simulation team. This was a constant struggle for me throughout the course, however with time it got better as I learned how to properly communicate with my team members and how to work past certain road blocks we faced. Working with groups always has its challenges, but a major lesson I learned from my experience of working with groups this semester is that not everything is under my control, and sometimes that is okay.

Objective #5: Appreciate the integrated role of marketing in business decisions.

The last objective I wanted to highlight was learning that marketing is implicit in all business decisions. I think that this is really important, because a common misconception of marketing is that it only relates to the advertising and communications of a company. I learned that this could not be farther from the truth this semester, because marketing is a part of each and every business decision from research and development all the way to product distribution.

Before I sign off for my final post, I want to take the time to thank you all for reading my blog and hope that you were able to get something out of it! I had a lot of fun with this project this semester!

That’s all for now,

-XOXO M

Blog 7: The Importance of Knowing Your Audience

One of the most important aspects of marketing is knowing who your target market is, so for this blog post I wanted to spend some time discussing the various ways in which a company uses this knowledge to their benefit in order to sell the optimum amount of products.

Earlier on in the semester we learned about the basic definition of target market, which was defined as one or more specific groups of potential customers toward which an organization directs its marketing program. Identifying who your target market is and tailoring your marketing efforts towards them is thus essential for a company, because otherwise their marketing program could be reaching the wrong group of individuals entirely- or possibly none at all.

This past week we learned about distribution channels in class. You may be wondering how target market would fit in here, however it most certainly does! Knowing who your audience is is incredibly useful throughout the entire life cycle of a product, but especially at the level of distribution. This is because marketers need to be aware of something called density, which is the number of stores in a geographic area that sell to your target market. By knowing which particular amount of density the company is working with, marketing efforts can be best matched to the various types of target market coverage.

In our textbook we learned that there are three different types of target market coverage. The first is called intensive distribution. Intensive distribution means that a firm tires to place its products and services in as many outlets as possible. This type of distribution is mainly used for convenience products or services, because these are the types of products that are desired by copious amounts of consumers and target markets.

The second form of target market coverage we learned about was exclusive distribution. All exclusive distribution means is that one retailer in a specified geographic area carries the firm’s products. As you can see, exclusive distribution is the exact opposite of intensive distribution. Exclusive distribution is mainly used for specialty products or services and retailers favor it for a few different reasons favor it. The first reason being a limitation for competition. If there is only one business that is distributing a specialty good in a particular area, all the customers who want this product have no other choice but to shop at their store. Another reason why businesses may prefer exclusive distribution is because it provides a point of difference for them. Point of differences are very important in all industries, especially retailing, because it lets your customers know what is different about their products and why they should buy them over any others.

The third form of target market coverage we learned about was called selective distribution. Selective distribution is a form that lies somewhere in between the two other forms of distribution. This is because it occurs when a firm selects a few retailers in a specific geographic area to carry its products. Selective distribution is thus the most common form of distribution intensity because it provides a firm with the benefits from both exclusive distribution and intensive distribution.

I hope that this post helps clarify the reason why being aware of your target market is very important for a firm. It not only helps you customize your marketing campaign to the right viewer, but it even helps you know where you should be selling your actual products at the distribution level.

That’s all for now,

-XOXO M

Sources:

Marketing, 12th Edition Roger Kerin, Steven Hartley, William Rudelius. McGraw-Hill: New York, 2015

http://www.vpasp.com/blog/How-Identify-Your-Ecommerce-Target-Market/

http://www.slideshare.net/phanquoccuong/sales-and-distribution-management-11306715