Perceptions of College Students on Marketing - Assignment Example

Marketing: Perceptions of College Introduction Different people define and perceive the term marketing differently, depending on their background or prior information. For instance, the marketing perceptions of college students who are not business majors are different from the perceptions business major college students. In this essay, analysis of the qualitative data obtained from four in-depth interviews with college students who are not business majors was carried out. The analysis investigated the associations that college students make with the word marketing in terms of what they think marketing is all about. The in-depth interviews involved a word association exercise with the informants. A diagram that shows the concepts that students relate to marketing was developed, based on the results of in-depth interviews, indicating the most frequently occurring connections. A detailed explanation of what was learnt about how college students view marketing was provided. Perceptions of College Students on Marketing As indicated earlier, the informants comprised of four college students who are not business majors. The main aim was to find out the perceptions of these students on marketing. The following questions were asked during the in-depth interviews and the informants were allowed to provide their responses in detail: What is marketing? The first informant defined marketing as the act of advertising and promotion of products or services. The second informant claimed that he understood marketing as an effort that is carried out to create brand awareness. The third informant linked marketing to consumer research, whereby she said that all marketing personnel should possess the ability to find out about the needs of consumers so that they can sell appropriate products and services to them. The fourth respondent defined marketing as manipulation of a consumer’s beliefs to enhance selling. What activities does marketing involve? According to the four informants, marketing involves various activities. For instance, one informant said that promotion, which is majorly carried out through advertising was the main activity of marketing. Another respondent perceived pricing and retail decision making as a major activity of marketing. Creation of brand awareness by marketing personnel was perceived as one of the main activities of marketing by one of the respondents. On the other hand, one of the informants claimed that the main activity of market research, which enables marketers to create a brand by carrying out quality research on how consumers perceive a product, service or organization. This research involves the identification of clients’ needs, and development of products. Planning and the ability to manipulate, through superior communication skills were also cited as a major activity in marketing. A summary of the findings is shown on the table below. Table 1: Activities Associated with Marketing Informant Activity 1st Informant Promotion/Advertising 2nd Informant Pricing and Retail Decision Making 3rd Informant Brand Awareness 4th Informant Marketing Research Which words are associated with marketing as per your perceptions? Different words, associated with marketing were provided by the respondents who were interviewed. For instance, one of the informants simply said the best word that he associated with marketing was research. Another informant said that he associated marketing with two words, planning and decision making. A third informant said that promotion and advertising were the best words that she could associate marketing with, while another informant said that selling and communication would the ideal words that can be associated with marketing. Table 2: Words Associated with Marketing Informant Word 1st Informant Promotion and Advertising 2nd Informant Planning and Decision Making 3rd Informant Selling and Communication 4th Informant Research How do marketers carry out their Roles in a Context that you are Familiar with? According to responses by the informants, there are roles of marketing personnel that they could associate marketing with. For instance, marketing personnel engage in promotional activities. The main aim of these promotional activities is to create awareness about a brand, mostly through advertising. For instance, Petruzzelli (2012), states that marketing begins and ends with awareness of the library’s users. It is a conversation, where the library attendant does three quarters of the talking. Being a communication, it acts as a nervous system of an institution. Also, marketers engage in word of mouth advertising through clients so that they can make product and service recommendations to their friends, co-workers or neighbors who know and trust them. This enables an organization to win additional clients. Marketers also take part in pricing and retail decisions to ensure that products and services are sold to consumers at the right price and delivered at a convenient destination. One of the informants indicated that marketing is about research. For instance, a university can create a brand by carrying out quality research indicating how a university’s market perceives the university. Marketing personnel also engage in promotional efforts. These activities are carried out by marketers to ensure that a product or a service is sold. Promotion is closely associated with research to identify client needs and develop appropriate products and services. In addition, marketers engage in selling and planning. Effective selling involves sufficient and visionary planning in terms of how much an organization should spend and where it should spend this amount. For instance, an organization can set a certain amount of dollars to be spent on advertising so that it can sell more of its products in a certain region. The respondents indicated that in an institutional context such as a university, marketing is carried out through various modes. One of the modes identified by the informants is social network. Marketers place various adverts and information-proving articles and links on social media because majority of the students in college are frequent users of social media. Another channel identified by the informants is campus newspapers. These are articles that a greater percentage of college students read and is ideal for marketing purposes. As per the perceptions of the respondents, seminars, game tournaments, conferences and talent hunt programs within colleges are all marketing efforts. What are the traits that a successful market should possess? Respondents claimed that a marketer should possess decision making skills because marketing is all about making appropriate decisions. It is also associated with proper timing. In addition to decision making skills, a marketer should possess the ability to devise effective prices so that brands can be purchased competitively. Research skills are another trait that a marketer should possess. Given that marketing is about research, a marketer should be capable of creating a brand by carrying out quality research to find out how the community and potential market perceives an organization. Creativity is a crucial trait that is required by every marketer because promotions and advertisements are based on creativity, based on the perceptions of one of the respondents. In addition, respondents said that this is associated with a bit of research skills because promotional effort that is done to ensure that a product or a service is sold requires research to identify client needs and develop appropriate services and products. One of the informants claimed that marketing personnel should possess effective communication strategies. Marketing is about the ability to communicate (LaPlaca & Frank, 2011).This is because; it is a requirement that marketers have to engage in persuasive efforts in order to convince consumers. This can be achieved by convincing and influencing client attitudes by marketers. This is evidenced in adverts, where people with excellent communication skills are required to work with MTV as brand managers (Billboard Group, 1997). Marketers ought to posses some manipulative qualities, as per the perceptions of one of the informants. However, it should be noted manipulation is associated with ethical concerns because business ethics has deteriorated, given that marketers have to act on their own interest (Kazmi, 2007). Diagram 1: Concepts that Students relate to Marketing Conclusion Various students relate the word marketing to various terms, including promotion, selling and advertising. In addition, research, planning and manipulation have also been cited as activities associated with marketing. Manipulation is essential in marketing because, consumers normally accept to purchase a service or a product through guidance when marketers engage in reasoning and emotional appeals (Shimp & Andrews, 2013). The analysis also established that communication skills are necessary for success of the salespeople (Sahaf, 2008). The analysis provides the above diagram, which indicates the concepts that the interviewed students relate to marketing. Selling, research and communication, promotion and brand awareness are the most frequently occurring connections, based on the views of college students. References Billboard Group. (1997, March 8). MTV Brand Manager. Billboard , p. p. 59. Kazmi, S. H. H. (2007). Marketing Management: Text and cases. Excel Books India. LaPlaca, P. J., & Frank, N. (2011). Marketing strategies for a tough environment. Marketing Classics Press. Petruzzelli, B. W. (2012). Real-life marketing and promotion strategies in college libraries: connecting with campus and community. Routledge. Sahaf, M. A. (2008). Strategic Marketing: Making Decisions for Strategic Advantage. New Delhi: PHI Learning Press. Shimp, T., & Andrews, J. C. (2013). Advertising promotion and other aspects of integrated marketing communications. Cengage Learning. Read More