Journal

4/28/11

This chapter was very informative regarding pricing. It taught me to set pricing goals and about the need for the ability to estimate demands, costs, and profits. I have learned that it is very important to research and know about all types of discounts that can be offered with business, because to me doing sales and giving discounts is something that shows loyalty to current customers and at the same time draws the attention of new customers. The most valuable part of the chapter to me was about pricing during recession, I never realized before how important bundling and showing a customer the value of the product was until now.

Journal

4/21/11

I have recently been watching the show extreme couponing and this chapter ties into that show perfectly. I never realized how much money there was to be saved, but the book stated that almost 280 billion coupons are sent out to U.S. households annually. I really enjoyed this chapter because I could most relate to the points it talked about. I have personally entered and won contests, filled out rebates, and taken samples, but never realized how much my winnings, rebates, and samples totaled. I do some sales for my job and the part that talked about the 7 steps in the selling process, I feel that by introducing these into my sales routine I have been able to increase my sales, the one I have begun using the most is generating leads, every person that buys from me, now is asked if they have anyone else they know that might be interested.

Journal

4/14/11

I’m a really into technology… TV, internet… anything electronic I love it. I have noticed with the majority of these devices do have a ton of advertising connected to it. I have noticed how many pop up ads and commercials try to attract attention by being loud and flashy. I always just threw away junk mail before, but now I take the time to look at it because I realize how much time and money it takes to create and send out flyers, but I just can’t let myself get sucked in by them.

Journal

3/31/11


I cant believe how integrated products and forms of marketing have almost become one. I think of movies when they come out. When I was young and a movie was about to come out all I ever saw about it was the trailer on TV, or maybe a poster at the theater. But now days, when a movie comes out, its on candy wrappers, slurpee cups, McDonalds food, cereal boxes, and that doesn’t even include the loads of new toys from that movie. Another big one is that darn Facebook, it’s every where, like TV, internet, billboards, food, cloths, cars and places I bet I have never even seen.

Journal

3/24/11

My favorite part about this chapter is the talk about build-to-order or mass customization. I am a very picky person and over the last few years I have seen a huge increase in companies allowing you to design your own item, which is a huge benefit for someone like me. I love watches and shoes and both of the industries now offer custom designs or design it yourself orders. I gained a lot of knowledge from the inventory control section also, I realized how important it is to be aware of inventory levels to ensure you aren’t overstocked or understocked and still have money to work with, it is important to not keep all the money invested in inventory or marketing, shipping, and developing in products can decrease.

Journal

3/17/11

The product life cycle in today’s world is getting shorter and shorter. Take computers for example, if you bought a computer today its almost guaranteed that by the time you get home and set it up and surf the internet, you’ll see your computer is already out dated by newer one. And that is just a fact that we have come to live with, just as our things speedily go out of date.

Journal

2/24/11

Apple Computers can sum up this chapter, when it comes to products they take the cake. They spend hundreds of millions of dollars on their products and their design. They only have a few main products lines but within those lines there is variety. Those few products make a lot of money and can be spotted in a heart beat because of that oh so familiar Apple logo. All of this is because they put so much effort in product design.

Journal

2/17/11

I learned from this chapter that it is very important to collect data on products through surveys, focus groups, questionnaires, etc. Then collecting and analyzing the data can save time and money because it shows customers likes and dislikes about existing products.

Journal

2/10/11

I recently heard that the store Aeropostale opened due to teenagers no longer shopping at American Eagle because too many tweens were shopping there and although there is only about a 5 year age gap, the teens didn’t want to be seen in the same clothes as tweens. This felt like a great example of target market, because American Eagle wanted to target teens, but on top of them attracted tweens, so Aeropostale swooped in and hit tweens as their target market.

Journal

2/3/11



I like that this chapter gave me a better grasp on decision making, I usually research products and debate them for a while before purchasing, but the 5 steps in the decision-making process really broke it down for me and will be a good guide to reference for future purchases.

Journal

1/27/11

Product Red - This was our in group discusion topic for today. I really like the idea behind "Red," but I think they could so much more. I would really love to see a company be fully public with its records, and not pay a single employee. Trying to get advertising spots donated, and having services donated, and not having an office but let people work together over phones and internet form their homes and save money. I think that if a group of people really tried I mean really tried, they could have 100% of the profit actually go to charity, and not to fatten some persons own pocket.

Journal

1/20/11

I wasn't aware of all the different types of marketing there are. Production, Sales, and Market orientation all are different approaches to marketing. Only focusing on one isn't  a good idea, but rather trying to adapt and use all three would be the greatest strategy in mind.

Class Journal

1/13/11

Today was our first class. Its kind of a different feeling being in a with students and no teacher. I'm glad to see that the teacher has actual real world knowledge of marketing and owning small businesses.