With the boom in technology in recent years, e-marketing has become a businesses advertising dream. There are hundreds of ways that a company can get themselves seen in the digital world. Whether you are starting out, or if you're a large company that has a massive marketing budget, there is an online option for you. Most new businesses these days are taking advantage of sites like Facebook and Instagram, where they have the ability to make customized pages that they can use to solicit likes and notices from consumers. These pages are usually free with very low costs for promotion of your business or your page. Many larger corporations make their own websites and partner with search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo to have their sites be featured on their pages when a consumer searches for a certain product. Most big companies offer the customer the convenience to shop online and have their purchase delivered to the closest store for the customer to pick up at no charge to them for shipping. These companies often have their ads emailed to their loyal customers. This allows company information to be at the consumers finger tips, and offers more market penetration for the company that utilizes the services. As time goes on, more and more companies are developing apps that customers may use to buy, order, keep track, and shop from a smart phone or tablet. Sam's Club, Target, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart are just a few. These are aside from strictly online retailers like Overstock.com and Amazon. Needless to say, the internet has become a huge marketing tool for all businesses big and small. As the country moves more toward everything being digital, the internet will become more and more important, and the definition of traditional marketing will change.
Market penetration is defined as the act of increasing the market share of a product, or promoting a new product through different strategies such bundling, advertising, lower prices, and volume discounts. The second definition is the measure of the extent of a products sales volume relative to the total sales volume of all competing products. This may sound like a bunch of gibberish, but it really can make sense.
All this refers to is the amount of space that a particular product takes up in a particular market. For instance, McDonald's is all over the place. There are billboards, commercials, toys, clothes, cartoons, movies, you name it, they have it. More children in the world can identify Ronald McDonald than can identify the president of the United States. This company has some of the best market penetration in the food industry. The more places you see a logo/sign, the greater the penetration.
One of the hardest things about marketing is writing a marketing plan. To do this correctly, the process is long and detailed. It takes time, dedication, and concentration to get all that is needed into a plan. The marketing plan is the part of an overall business plan that includes a market analysis, the demographics, psycographics, and geographics of your target market, location, distribution, market research, sales forecasting, and what makes you different. All of these things come together to let the reader know what kind of market you're trying to get into, how you're going to get into it, and what you're going to do when you get there. One has to be able to almost look into the future to make these kinds of decisions and discoveries. I have learned that if you cannot get through the process of writing a business or marketing plan, then there is no way that you are going to able to run a business. So think long and hard before you decide to open your own business. Be sure to write a business and marketing plan first.
There are many things that go into setting an appealing price for things. There are psychological rules that many companies follow that make people believe that they are getting a better deal than they really are. These rules aren't known by most people, and most consumers don't realize that their minds are being tricked.
One of the most common rules that is implemented is that by leaving the comma out of a large number, like $1000, it makes the number appear smaller at first glance. Take a look... $1000 vs. $1,000. When you first look, which number looks smaller to you? Another one of these pricing tricks is that when an item costs a dollar or less, it more appealing for the price to end in a 9, like .99 or .89. When an item is priced over a dollar, it is more appealing to have the price end in a 9 or go in increments of .50, like 9.99 or 9.50. When an item is priced over $100, it is best to keep the decimal out all together, and keep things to round numbers, like $115 instead of $115.00. All of these things make the customer believe they are getting a deal regardless of whether they actually are or not. So,next time you go shopping, pay attention to the price tag. It is saying more than you might think.
I heard a comedian once tell a joke about what it really meant to be famous. According to Mitch Hedberg, one was not really famous until they had a picture on a popular cereal box. He said that he wanted to be on the Rice Crispies Box. It would be Snap, Crackle, Mitch, and Pop. He then said, "It's all about who you know, and I know Crackle."
This joke is quite funny, but it isn't incorrect. If a product has the right face associated, or the right logo, it will be more appealing to the everyday consumer, and will sell more. Putting athletes on the Wheaties boxes proved advantages. Having a peanut in a top hat with a cane made all the difference in the world for Planter's. This principle doesn't only apply to food. A customer would likely pay two times the amount of money for a shoe with a picture of Micheal Jordan on the side than they would for the same shoe with nothing on it. A that sports Rachel Ray's name will be perceived as a better product. Perfumes endorsed by celebrities are more expensive, but they sell better. These facts are irrefutable, when it comes to branding, it really can be all about who you know.
Working in the Elevator Pitch, really made me think about all the things that go into planning a business and what it takes to get one's business out there. The only way for a business to grow is to bring it to the attention of the general public and potential investors. To do this, one has to do quite a bit of research. They would have to know their target market, all that there is to know about their product or service, and all there is to know about their competition. They would have to be different in some way in order to set themselves apart. Sure, one could just throw the information about their business out into the void that is the market, and see what happens, but that would be silly. The smart thing to do is to research, think, and know what you're doing, who you should be talking to, and who you are up against before casting your line.
One of the fastest growing positions in the job world is in the field of marketing. There are more and more positions available in marketing every day. Every company in the world has need of an expert in marketing, whether it be in traditional adverting or in the pr or customer relations. There is much more to marketing then advertising, so there really are almost endless potential job opportunities. Some companies may be in need of someone to organize focus groups. Other companies might just need an idea man. Whatever the need, it is evident on websites like Monster and Jobs.com. So if you're in search of a marketing job, I would say that now is the time to shine.
