Week Eight - Reflection on Learning

This week we learnt that people and processes are vital in the provision of services. For example, the 90/10 service and sales rule states that communication with customers can account for up to 90% of sales transactions whereas price and product accounts for approximately 10%. We discovered the importance of having a balance between automated services, such as email notifications and virtual assistants, and customer service. Staff must receive adequate training in order to achieve high levels of customer satisfaction.

I enjoyed the Microsoft training video. The moral of the video is that no matter how people do business, they should focus predominantly on their customers as they are the key to providing cash flow and shareholder value. I found the 'awkwardness' between the two men was hilarious! The Microsoft interviewer held his stance and conducted himself very well.

Week Eight - Real People or Virtual People?

1. Read all of the notes.
2. Watch PowerPoint.
3. Watch video.
4. Complete survey.
5. Download the new Google web browser (Chrome) and try it out. What do you think of it?
I am quite impressed with Google's Chrome browser. It took less than two minutes to download and install onto my laptop. The features that I like about it are the minimalistic user interface and the merging of the address bar and search bar. It still has all of the features of other web browsers (and more!) but it is simplified into icons including 'back', 'forward', 'reload' and 'homepage'. The additional tabs that I thought were useful were 'control the current page' and 'customise and control Google Chrome'. The latter tab included applications such as history, bookmark manager and downloads. I found that the history application was very useful as it listed all of the previously browsed web sites by date and time order. You are also given the option to clear your history (I hear a sigh of relief from many people!!) Finally I thought it was a nice touch to allow users to personalise their browser. As a result, my browser is 'pretty in pink'. Hopefully my boyfriend appreciates my good taste!

Week Seven - No exercises to be completed

Week Six - Reflection on Learning

This week we viewed a YouTube clip by Seth Godin titled 'All Marketers Are Liars'. Basically it outlined that in order for customers to talk about a product or service, it needs to be remarkable. The product needs to be delivered in a relevant, personal and anticipated way to people who actually want it. It also needs to be positioned in the right place, time and in the form that people want to get it.

We learnt that an important key element in promotional marketing is word-of-mouth. It is free, effective (as long it is positive) and doesn't require valuable resources (e.g. sales force). 'Flipping the funnel' is a method of getting a message distributed.

Google is certainly an innovative service that has change the way that many marketers think and do business.

Week Six - All Marketers Are Liars: The Need For Meaningful Messages

1. When talking about Yahoo auctions, what did Seth Godin mean by 'billion dollar decisions do not have anything to do with technology'?
Seth Godin states that marketers and decision makers spend extensive amounts of revenue on advertising. Yahoo did the same to promote its auction website. However, Google had no sales-force to promote their service. They developed a magnificent search engine that delivers personal, relevant and anticipated messages to people who want them. Word-of-mouth is their key promotional element. They do not need to spend a dime on promotion as customers do it for them.

2. What has storytelling got to do with cat food?
Seth Godin used the example of Fancy Feast cat food to demonstrate the concept of ‘storytelling’. He explains that people do not buy Fancy Feast for their cat, but buy it for themselves and their well-being. They want a story to tell. For example, people do not buy Chanel No. 5 for the perfume itself, but buy it so they can tell a story about their wealth, status and good taste.

3. Explain the concept of funnel marketing. How would 'flipping the funnel' help the marketing of a product?
A funnel is very wide at the top and narrow at the tip. Not everything can come out the bottom all at once. Funnel marketing is the process of offering something of high value and little or no cost to customers. Once marketers have captured the interests of customers, they can then start varying the weight of the value and costs accordingly. Funnel marketing is a successful concept as customers already have an idea of what they are buying. As long as they feel that the last step in the funnel is worth the price, they will always be open to pay the higher prices in the future.

The essence of 'flipping the funnel' is that for most companies, friends and customers are under-used assets. Network marketing leverages the single most powerful form of advertising: word-of-mouth. It is about flipping the funnel and turning it into a megaphone.

4. What does the term 'remarkable' mean in the context of purple cows?
The word ‘remarkable’ means giving customers something worth talking about. For example, if people have seen one cow, they have seen hundreds. There is nothing special or remarkable about them. However, if people saw a purple cow, they are mostly likely to take interest in it as it is a story worth telling. Marketers need customers to keep talking about their products to produce and maintain demand.

5. As eMarketers we all want 'happy surfers'. Godin talks about the fashion/permission complex. He lists four parts to the fashion/complex. They are:

1) Make it (the message) worth listening to.
2) Tell it to the people who want to hear.
3) Tell their friends.
4) Get permission to tell about your next fashion.

Can you think of an example from your experience that demonstrates the fashion/permission complex?
An example of the fashion/permission complex is Sri Chinmoy Races. It is an event company that offers a smorgasbord of quality running, swimming, triathlon and multi-sport races Australia-wide. I heard about the event company at a Health & Wellbeing Festival. As I enjoy running I took interest in their message. A lady from the registration tent asked if she could take down my details to send me email updates about upcoming races. I told my friends and family about the events as they are also interested in running. I now participate in the races on a regular basis.

6. Thinking back to last weeks lecture, give an example of an 'idea that spread', and an example of marketing 'that is broken'. What elements of the promotional mix did your examples include?
IDEA THAT SPREAD
An example of an idea that spread is Facebook. It is a social directory that was introduced to help people communicate more efficiently with their friends, family and co-workers. I first heard about it from my friends and decided to sign up as another way to stay in touch. It now has more than 130 million active users. Facebook’s key element of the promotional mix is word-of-mouth. Minimal amounts of revenue are spent on promotion.

THAT IS BROKEN
Some years ago Coco Cola tried to introduce a new Coke. Even though they did extensive market research and people seemed to like the taste of the new Coke, the product still failed. The reason why is because there was nothing wrong with the original Coke and people didn’t want to give up buying it. Coke would have used advertising, sales promotion, PR, sponsorship, packaging and word-of-mouth to promote the new Coke. However, due to poor planning the product did not succeed.

Week Five - Reflection on Learning

This week we focused on 'place' and 'promotion' as part of the marketing mix. We identified online distribution ideas and the different communication tools that various website use. As online promotion is increasing rapidly it is important that we are aware of the ways to communicate and how they are relevant to our core business.

Week Five - Promotion

1. List each of the ten types of promotion and give a real example that you have found for each.
Ten types of promotion and examples of each are:

• Advertising: Poker ads that pop-up when I'm trying to access particular webpages.
• Selling: I receive a link each month from Victoria's Secret to view their online catalogue.
• Sales promotion: StrawberryNet.com offers buyers a discount on every purchase they make. For every purchase is an increase in the discount percentage.
• PR: I receive an e-newsletter from Blackmores listing their most recent products and latest news on health.
• Sponsorship: Whereis.com is sponsored by TomTom.
• Direct email: I receive direct emails from Start To Finish Event Management informing me of upcoming running events.
• Exhibitions: On the University of Exeter website there is a digital exhibition space of the Bill Douglas Centre and includes a comprehensive catalogue of the collections.
• Merchandising: Selling products on eBay.
• Packaging: Adidas places images of its actual collections and products that can be viewed on their website.
• Word-of-mouth: When I find good products online I email friends to tell them about it.

2. Spend some time looking at the National Marketing Awards (UK). Select two of the winners and discuss them in terms of the promotional mix. What communication tools were used in each award?

The two winners that I have selected from the National Marketing Awards are Cadbury's Natural Confectionery Company and Future Talent.

Sales for the Natural Confectionery Company increased by 627% as they used the following communication tools:

• Radio
• Virtual ads
• Facebook page
• YouTube video
• TV channel

Future Talent is a music charity dedicated to finding, funding and nurturing exceptionally talented young musicians in the UK. The communication tools used are:

• Podcasting
• News feed subscriptions
• Press releases
• Press cuttings links
• Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Favourite and email compatible
• Public relations. E.g. website launched by Katharine Kent and Nicholas Robinson at the Cambridge University Concert Hall, with a performance by the Aronowitz Ensemble and the King's College Choir.

3. At first glance, what do you think of Facebook, Twitter, MSN, Hotmail or eBay? Why do they work?

Although these website are not visually appealing, they are successful as they engage and interact with users. They captivate users by interacting, selling or notifying them of new products or updates. They are addictive technologies as they keep users constantly informed. For example, sending emails to the user, Twitter or Status updates, new friend notifications or new product updates. If users are engaged they are more likely to continue to use the technology.

4. Who is Craig? Who cares about his list? Is this a serious business? As a marketer what would your advice to Craig have been ten years ago?

Craig Newmark i a customer service representative and founder of Craigslist. He is a senior web-oriented software engineer, with around thirty years of experience, and has been taught a lot about online community and customer service as customer service founder and rep for Craigslist for eleven years.

Craigslist is a serious business. It is a non-commercial community service with classifieds and discussion forums. It focuses on helping people with basic needs, starting with housing and jobs, with a pervasive culture of trust (http://www.inasinglestroke.com/).

As a marketer, I probably wouldn't have advised Craig to go ahead with his business as he was oblivious to innovation and was stuck in a 1997 mindset. He was not interested in branding, graphic design or money. However, his business seemed to work as he serves more than 45 million people each month, and produces 100 million dollars in revenue annually. His local listings site has helped take down an entire sector of the publishing industry (http://www.wired.com/). His business proves to be successful and I believe he has altered the way marketers think.

5. Include a summary of place that has led to new distribution ideas online.

Place means the place of purchase, distribution and consumption. According to Chaffey et al, the new ideas that have occurred in the online world of distribution are:

• Disintermediation: Removing the middleman.
• Reintermediation: The emergence of new types of middlemen.
• Informediation: Middlemen hold data or information to benefit customers and suppliers.
• Channel confluence: Distribution channels start to offer the same deal to the end customer.
• Peer-to-peer services: Removing both supplier and middleman. E.g. Music service 'Napster'.
• Affiliation: Turn customers into sales people.