E-Marketing and Consumer Perceptions - Assignment Example

This assignment has to do with a forum thats going on in an online Basically I will post 5 forums topics with 5 replies. What’s required of this assignment is to reply to the student’s reply (do you agree or disagree with what the student is saying and why…about 4 or 5 sentences for each reply is good) 1- Forum topic 1 How do you think that e-marketing will affect consumer perceptions of privacy and security? Will they be pleased about the new information or will they feel that this is an unwelcome intrusion into their lives? What can marketers do to soften e-marketing efforts? Student’s reply: E-marketing will truly affect consumer perceptions of privacy and security. As technology continues to improve over the years, methods of advertising will advance as well. Companies will always match up with other companies, trying to attract as many consumers as they can. All the popular websites feature internet marketing; search engines, online forums and communities such as My Space and Facebook, and company websites. On online communities such as Facebook, ads pop up that match up with ones interests that may be displayed in their profile. This is another advancement companies have made to promote themselves. It is controversial because information in someones account has been made available to online companies in promoting themselves. This happens all over the internet, yet people still continue to use the internet because it is quick and easy, and often times, requires little work. E-marketing has kept up with the consumer. Marketing has gone from paper, to graphic, to electronic, and with the help of the internet, international. Marketers used pop-up ads to get a users attention which the consumers disliked. Now they fill the sides of pages while users surf the internet. Marketers have offered online newsletters to users on many sites. This is one method I believe has worked. Companies ask a user if they would like to join a news letter, and they receive these letters only if they agree. This way, if they are not interested in the company, they will not be bothered. This was one approach marketers used that I felt worked and respected peoples privacy. Response: I agree with the above statement. E-marketing has come to stay and unless a major obstacle or glitch like the Y2K scare interrupts the internet connectivity, which is most unlikely, companies will continue to develop new strategies to sell their products on the internet. However, this will happen only in the tech savvy developed world. Other less developed countries will continue to be targeted by the original marketing methods using the best available media for advertisement. Consumers are being offered the majority of the products online and they prefer to use this medium as it eliminates the possibility of being conned by an impressive salesperson while buying in a real shop. They can compare the products from different brands online and choose the most suitable one. Privacy issues can be handled by using firewalls and other security software. 2-forum topic 2 Do you think that the "types" in marketing to men and marketing to women make sense or are they too simplistic? Student’s reply: I think that the different types of men categorized are close but they definitely arent accurate.  I wouldnt suggest a company use those categories as marketing categories because us guys are all over the place when it comes to what we like and wear.  For the most part, metro guys, gay guys, whatever... we dont wear what the other guys wearing but we wear what appeals to us.  If something catches our eye because its different we wouldnt think twice to wear it, not caring what other people thought.  Women on the other hand have a wardrobe that changes more than the seasons.  They are more "whats popular" based and go by what people are wearing on magazine covers and around them at the mall. They are doubtful to try new things that others dont wear because they are afraid that they might not look good.  This is understandable because they are women, but Bloomingdales just got lucky with products that a few women found appealing.  Once a few women wore it and others saw how good they looked, then bingo, they had a successful line of clothing. Response: I feel that the above answer is too simplistic and more of a personal view. What is generally acceptable in a particular society dictates the trends in clothing styles. Nobody, except the deviant few would think of wearing something outrageous. ‘Types” classification in marketing for men and women was always there and will continue in subsequent years as they are two poles representing the modern society. Personal attitudes and preferences may allow for some differences between members of the same sex, but generally all follow the majority within their society. The trend for unisex clothing has caught up in recent years and it is increasingly becoming difficult to discern men from women in modern society. This might also influence the future marketing issues as far as ‘typing’ is concerned.  3-forum topic 3 How important do you think that innovation is for a company to be competitive? Student’s reply: I think that innovation is very important for a company to be competitive, whether they are improving their products or improving the way that they make their products. When a company creates a new product, they have the potential to make a profit, however, there is a risk that the product might fail. When a company improves the way they make their products or run their business, they are making a profit by doing what they already do for less money. If a company just slowed down once it became successful, it wouldnt remain successful for very long. There are a number of ways companies can be competitive. By starbucks providing wireless internet and music stations, it allows customers a variety of services they can get at one place. This makes the customer more likely to stay there longer, inevitably consuming more of the starbucks coffee. The car company improving their assembly line process saved them a very large amount of money as well as made it easier to produce different models of cars with the same equipment. This proves that either way can be a successful way to make a business more competitive because now both companies are making a higher profit. Response: I agree with the response that innovation is vital today in the highly competitive market. Unless a company comes up with new ideas for promoting their products, or offers perks and associated benefits like what the ‘Starbucks’ company has done, they are bound to lag behind and lose to other companies which offer the latest fruits of technology. Understanding what the present consumer needs and modifying one’ strategy in a continuous manner is absolutely essential to stay afloat in the present competitive market. 4-forum topic 4 How has McDonalds used the concepts of segmentation, targeting and positioning to grow its business in the US? Student’s reply: McDonalds uses segmentation by realizing that there is a market available now a days that extends into the early morning hours.  While it may only be during the weekend because people were drinking, they probably experimented with a few stores being open 24 hours and said, hey we really have a market the entire day.  With that being realized McDonalds targeted what stores were located on major roads in towns and decided to keep them all open all night and are now seeing profits because of it.  The positioning of this entire operation is now that the "anytime" McDonalds will have to alter its menu to have "anything" - all the time.  This involves having all meal options available all day and not stopping breakfast at 10:30.  Today, peoples schedules are all over the place and many places are employing people at night either to catch up or save up.  So when this person goes to work when they wake up at 5 in the afternoon they might want a McMuffin and not a Burger or Chicken sandwich.  McDonalds is not the industry leader for no reason.  They stay at the top because their smart and they have realized what people want. Response: I partially agree with the above response. Opening of 24 hour outlets has been profitable for McDonald’s in populous metropolitan areas and other places where 24 hour activity exists. However in some regions McDonald has focused more on the local tastes and preferences for food items and built their product lines accordingly. Their targeting strategy is therefore location, region as well as country specific. They cannot operate 24 hours stores in certain areas where there is no scope of getting a customer al all, specifically during night. 5-forum topic 5 Why is branding so important in marketing? How would you move a cult brand to the mainstream? Student’s reply: Branding is very important to a business in general. There are many reasons for this. It starts because branding is not just a catchy name but it is also a brand, which you can achieve more from. Most of the biggest named businesses have their own brand. This is how competitors find the best competition against each other. "A brand name with the right description is a key for customer loyalty." (Why is branding so important, ezarticles.com) When someone thinks of Addidas, they automatically think of sports apparel brand name. The reason for this is because Adidas is an international brand name so most people know about it. As many others already claimed, the best way to move a cult brand to the mainstream is by working by the segmented markets and work on strategies that would well position the company in all marketing segments. In order to become successful at doing so, a company needs to work with marketing segmentation and positioning like we spoke about in the last lecture. Response: I completely agree with the above statement. Brand names do succeed in garnering customer loyalty and firm belief over the years. When a particular product is needed, a person will immediately think about the most popular brand and buy the product from their retail outlet which settles his or her concerns for quality as well as price. ‘Adidas’ elicits a spontaneous acceptability as the best sports equipment supplier and although a customer may think of other major brands like ‘Nike’ and ‘Reebok’ in the back of his mind, but he will not desist from buying an ‘Adidas’ product because the brand has an established reputation for quality. Moving a cult brand to the mainstream involves identifying a potential market and developing strategies to popularize the product in the identified segments. Strategies need to be continuously monitored and developed after evaluating the initial response a cult product receives, which can spell its success or doom as an acceptable product by the newly identified market segment. Read More