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Author Archives: LaurenK
Please Avoid Interruption
Intrusive Schemes or Valuable Content?
Millions of people are surfing the Internet at this very minute. As they transfer from page to page, they are bombarded with flashy, obnoxious ads that interrupt or stall the loading of their pages. These intrusive advertising techniques may have worked for a short period of time, but they are now being ignored, avoided, or blocked in any way possible. Fresh, creative, and useful content is the method that is reaching millions of views instead. Web-based communication through social media platforms, blogs, and viral videos reaches consumers immediately, thoroughly, and respectfully.
Consumers are spending a large part of their day online viewing their interests and sharing their opinions. This new connection allows Internet users to feel a part of a relationship, a platform where consumers and marketers express mutual interest without consumers being bombarded with and sold products and services every other second. This new content is valuable to consumers in online communities where authentic information is sought after. Consumers desire to explore the opportunities that the Internet provides without being virtually heckled with advertising they are not actively seeking.
How do we build a relationship?
Brands have the opportunity to build relationships with their consumers on a more personal level by participating and engaging in online dialogue. This dialogue is important to the consumers who seek honesty and respect from brands, while equally important to the brands who seek loyalty and passion from consumers. The best part? These online channels that mutually provide more feedback to both parties, are virtually free. So, as consumers are freely expressing their voices and proclaiming their loyalties and passions, marketers are saving outrageous amounts of mass-media advertising dollars on wasted online campaigns.
David Meerman Scott highlights the need for marketers to throw out old methods of marketing and PR and subsequently create lasting consumer relationships and brand loyalty. Not all traditional marketing methods should be forgotten, but rather updated and targeted to consumers who are most likely to respond and care.
Whole Foods – Whole Story – Whole Heart
Whole Foods is a company not only focused on providing wholesome and natural food products , but also on making a sustainable difference to better serve the community’s future. Whole Story is the name of the Whole Foods blog that is easily accessible from their main homepage and integrated social media accounts.
“In a nutshell, we are the world’s leading natural and organic grocer and we’re passionate about healthy food and a healthy planet.”
– Whole Foods
The blog provides seasonal recipes categorized by certain diet and nutritional needs, informational reviews on the importance of highlighted foods, in-store promotions and updates, and articles on national initiatives to support and conserve sustainable farming and healthy active lifestyles.
“We’re lucky to have a whole bunch of smart, passionate people doing incredible things in areas like organics, supporting local growers, green practices, fair trade, micro-lending and all kinds of food related stuff. We’ll use this blog to share some of the cool things going on around here.”
– Whole Foods
I chose to highlight Whole Foods because I applaud the company’s mission and value to promote a healthy well-being and sustainable lifestyle. I am an advocate for organic, wholesome, and nutritious food consumption and value the respect and interest Whole Foods takes in their consumers. I feel as though I am a part of a community that mutually believes in this mission and is open to conversation about how to better oneself within a community of supporters. Whole Story invites local neighborhoods to plan and share events held at Whole Foods locations that gather communities to promote, educate, and support their shared mission.
Importance of Non-Profit Marketing
ABAN – The fabric of change.
ABAN is an example of how one person’s vision can improve the quality of life of many. Callie began ABAN after visualizing the destructive impact of the littered waste throughout the city’s streets that young girls called home. These young girls would not only fall asleep on the streets full of contaminated plastic garbage, but their young children and babies, produced by prostitution and abuse as a way of surviving, would as well. Callie continues to strive to make a difference among the lives of more than 21,000 young girls and children in Accra, Ghana.
Non-Profit/For-Profit
ABAN is an example of how a non-profit can manifest a subsequent for-profit business to support and sustain their non-profit efforts. As like Toms Shoes, ABAN designs and sews fashionable and sustainable bags from plastic bags that are collected and sanitized from the streets. This effort supports ABANs facilities and campus that supports a number of young girls. These facilities offer basic necessities such as food, shelter, and hygiene, in addition to counseling and career services for long-term goal orientation.
Where should we go from here?
ABAN’s has had success so far within the past few years, but the non-profit hope to double in sales revenue, so that they can assist more girls in Accra and neighboring cities in Ghana. The services to these girls are so crucial and need to be expanded. ABAN’s mission is to increase their marketing and collaborative efforts to expand their clientele who empathize with the mission.
Holly Stewart, a successful non-profit marketing strategist, visited our class to discuss how marketing for a non-profit is not considerably different than marketing for a for-profit business. Non-profits seek out loyal supporters to provide monetarily for their endeavors. The goal to capture a supporter is just as important as the goal to capture a customer. A non-profit is just as much of a brand name as Tide or Louis Vuitton. Supporters of a non-profit seek to understand what the mission of the non-profit is, who the non-profit supports specifically, and the quality of support the non-profit is providing. Non-profits have to compete for supporter loyalty, as for-profits do for customer loyalty. Supporters are seeking effective non-profits that can prove efficiency in their strategy and an ability to measure their effectiveness.
As I research more and more for my endeavors with ABAN, I am finding that there are many outlets non-profits can use to raise awareness and revenue. I believe my team is doing an excellent job in jotting down new ideas and collaborative strategies that will excel ABAN in positive direction in the weeks to come.
Branding Your Image
Is Image Everything?
Image is a term used to describe every aspect of life these days. What’s your image? What look are you going for? What reputation do you have? These questions can be directed towards the everyday girl who dresses in the current style trends, to the company innovating its appeal to their customers. Corporate image reflects the feelings consumers have towards the overall organization and its individual brands (Clow and Baack).
A customer’s perception of image can be generated by:
– marketing strategies
– social media
– websites
– promotions
– personal selling experience
Why should we worry about the image?
Corporate image is rated as the highest importance of a company. As a customer myself, I research quality brands before purchasing them. My qualifications range when considering products of different natures. Customers want product assurance.
Corporate image can be manifested through brand prestige. Advertising promotions help generate constant repetitiveness for hopeful remembrance by customers. The goal is to capture the customer’s attention and propose a sale. The more unique and crafty the advertisement or promotion is, the better result for sales and loyalty.
Once a corporate image is set, it is carefully controlled for prolonged success. Clow and Baack referred to Tide as an excellent example of a company that has remained the most powerful and trusted detergent. Advertisements for Tide emphasize the quality of Tide and their decades of proven success to their customers. Tide reaches customers through television, YouTube, and Facebook. Tide entices customers to test their detergent to competitors to prove their quality. Tide’s quality distinguishes their brand equity n comparison to other brands in their market. Tide is also continuously innovating itself with new products that further enhance clothing and service. The company is currently extending their ventures to include drive-thru dry cleaning service locations. These locations are predicted to be successful because of the great number of loyal Tide customers.
Non-Profits care about their image too…
Corporate image is also an important aspect to non-profit organizations. Even though they are not making money off of a service or product, their cause is funded by monetary progress and supporters.
Preferred not-for-profit social causes:
- Susan G Komen for the Cure
- St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital
- Teach for America
Motivation to be involved in national health non-profits usually hails from an experience with cancer, either personally or with a family member. Cancer is the second largest common cause of death in the US, or roughly 1 out of 4 deaths. These non-profits focus on research advancement and education awareness. Susan G Komen is supported by several sororities on the Elon Campus as well as St. Jude’s Children Research.
St. Jude’s cancer research non-profit was created by a late entertainer, and continues to be highly marketable non-profit supported by successful film stars. The hospital successfully completed a $1 billion expansion in 2005 and continues to excel in advancing research. Supporters of St. Jude are drawn to these delicate children who are attacked at such a young age.
Teach for America is an excellent education non-profit that provides young intelligent individuals to educate in poverty stricken communities around the country. These educators create the possibility for lower class sizes and direct engagement with students who are more prone to grim circumstances as they age. Teach for America also collaborates with Teach for All which has the same premise as Teach for America, but with a global initiative.
Core Qualities of a Non-Profit Brand:
- Valuable (benefits outweigh all costs)
- Relevant (a need by the community)
- Well-known (awareness of mission, goals, and successes)
- Personable (emotional connection to supporters)
Image may not be everything, but it surely is important considering the direction of a company and their projected success.
Customer Engagement 101
Redefined Relationships
What is the point of customer engagement? Successful IMC is measured by the extent of customer engagement used as the redefined value of profitable relationships. Profitable relationships with customers prove distinct choice in brand loyalty. Although it is easy to automatically assume that “profitable” relationships only refer to revenue, it is just one of several ways for customers to interact with companies. The sharing of opinions on goods or services bought is not new, rather the ability to maximize conversations online and with the use of social media makes it very important for companies to make customer engagement a focal point.
In Re-envisioning customer value written by the Economist Intelligence Unit, customer engagement is described as recently becoming a priority as the use of social media and buyer power grows exponentially. Consumers are more savvy than ever and research brand choices before finally settling on one. Companies are compelled to research these internet platforms, so that they can reach their potential customer base and engage and explore what the customer desires in a product or service. Customers are not afraid to ask, “If I were to walk away, what would you do to regain my loyalty?” Customer engagement is not just a desperate ploy in the face of brand parity, but it is the building of a relationship between customer and company, so that customers do not feel as though they are just a one time monetary transaction.
Aaron Magness, Senior Director of Brand Marketing for Zappos Development, stated, “We want a local community mindset, so it feels like I’m buying from my friend’s store. It allows us to get deeper into the relationship, and further away from the attitude that customers are just a wallet on legs.” Zappos is a great example of an online retailer that focuses on customer engagement. Their customer engagement leads to numerous loyal customers to return to their online retailer over a competitor’s.
“Customers nowadays want a different kind of relationship with the companies whose products andservices they buy. This makes the challenge of effective relationship management far more difficult.The advent of social media multiplies the challenges, but at the same time it creates an extraordinary opportunity for companies to understand and work with their customers in mutually benefi cial ways.Those that grasp the potential, and embrace social media with a scalable and sustainable strategy, will secure a significant competitive advantage over their rivals.”
– Economist Intelligence Unit
About Me
My name is Lauren and I welcome you to a blog dedicated to all aspects of the colossal and compelling world of marketing. As a senior marketing major at Elon University, I am prepared to tackle integrated marketing communication so that I may learn to generate a unified marketing approach that includes public relations, direct marketing, social media, communications, advertising, and sales.
I am specifically interested in developing a further understanding of how I can successfully integrate public relations and direct marketing alongside event planning and brand debut and awareness. As the Marketing and Media Communications Intern for the Chicago Tribune throughout the summer of 2012, I captured valuable experience, which therefore prompted an internal motivation to continue to excel in this subset after I graduate in May 2013. As a new blogger, please join me as I learn how to join this exciting community and discuss the world of marketing.
“Integration is not a dreamland of endless possibilities with revolutionary marketing results at the end of a rainbow. It’s an ongoing process made up of many discrete but valuable steps, each contributing to the greater cause.”
-David Eldridge