WEEK 5 EOC: SOCIAL NETWORKS AND JOB HUNTING

I do not like the idea of Brand Ambassadors. I agree with the feelings expressed in the book:

“The brand ambassador approach has its critics. For example, some view the practice as underhanded or deceptive. However, to avoid charges of deception, most firms advise their ambassadors to openly reveal that they are representatives. Others worry that brand ambassadors will be perceived as hucksters who promote products because they get free stuff—or, worse, as annoying evangelists best avoided.” -- Book page 144

I think it is a very deceptive and underhanded practice and I don’t think the ambassadors openly revealing what they are would change that, though I have never met one so maybe it is not as bad as I think. Being of Generation X, I am very skeptical of marketing claims and knowing some person is getting free stuff will make me even more skeptical of anything they say.

On the issue of companies using facebook to find job candidates, I don’t like this either. I agree with the sentiments expressed in the article that :

“in focus groups, prospective job candidates were sharply averse to being contacted through Facebook for jobs. "The antibodies kicked in pretty quickly. They thought it was very invasive," he said. The company posts job openings on its Facebook page, but Mr. Vijungco said they have had more success finding employees through LinkedIn.” -- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903885604576490763...

I think it is very invasive to use facebook for such a purpose. I have heard horror stories about job candidates being forced to show their facebook pages to potential employers as a screening tool and this sickens me. We already have too much ‘big brother’ going on in our society as it is. Isn’t there any place where we can go and expect some privacy and not have to think that some marketer somewhere is watching our every moves? How much is too much?   

WEEK 4 EOC: Business to Business Marketing

“Marketing for B2B vs. B2C – Similar but Different

Business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing is different. A person buying a product for themselves verses buying for their company is a very different, emotional experience. In fact, there are profound differences that you must remember when developing your marketing activities. B2B depends on relationship building marketing efforts.”

http://masterful-marketing.com/marketing-b2b-vs-b2c/#ixzz2AMyOEhyF

Another article points out 5 differences between business buying and consumer buying:

“1. Business buyers usually aren’t spending their own money. There’s a different mind set about personal expenses and business expenses. Therefore, most purchases need to be justified in quantifiable terms.

2. The buying process for major purchases is often complicated. It can follow a formal, rigid pattern of bids, budgets, bargaining, and analysis. Business buyers need plenty of information to make a decision, often over a long period of time.

3. You must sometimes talk to many layers of a company. This includes decision makers, buyers, influencers, and users. And you may or may not be sure who is who. Then there’s the mailroom and secretary barrier, people you have to go through first to get your message to your target.

4. Business buyers are particularly wary of taking chances on unknown products and services. The cost for mistakes — in time, money, and personal reputation — is too great. While some like to be on the cutting edge, most prefer to play it safe. They are especially influenced by the actions and opinions of colleagues and competitors. And they have elephantine memories when it comes to bad experiences.

5. Business buyers are time-conscious during business hours. They don’t welcome cold calls from businesses they don’t know. They are barraged with mail and sort through it quickly. However, if something interests them, they will read it, though they want to get to the point fast.” http://www.directcreative.com/blog/b2b-vs-consumer-marketing

“Long-term, loyal B2B customers buy based on the power of a relationship you forge or don’t forge with them. Things like creditability, trust, integrity, and putting your client first are essential. The best marketing approach for creating lasting B2B customer relationships is customer centric marketing.” http://www.mymarketingdept.com/b2b-marketing-versus-b2c-marketing/

Week 3 EOC: My Demographics

I am 45, I was born in 1967, thus my demographic is ..

"Generation X

The 45 million people born between 1965 and 1976 in the “birth dearth” following the baby boom.
 
The Generation Xers are defined as much by their shared experiences as by their age. Increasing parental divorce rates and higher employment for their mothers made them the first generation of latchkey kids. Although they seek success, they are less materialistic; they prize experience, not acquisition. For many of the Gen Xers that are parents, family comes first—both children and their aging parents—and career second.¹⁴ From a marketing standpoint, the Gen Xers are a more skeptical bunch. They tend to research products before they consider a purchase, preferring quality over quantity, and they tend to be less receptive to overt marketing pitches.
Once labeled as “the MTV generation” and viewed as body-piercing slackers who whined about “McJobs,” the Gen Xers have grown up and are now taking over. They are increasingly displacing the lifestyles, culture, and values of the baby boomers. They are the most educated generation to date and they possess hefty annual purchasing power. However, like the baby boomers, the Gen Xers now face growing economic pressures. Like almost everyone else these days, they are spending more carefully.¹⁵

 Still, with so much potential, many companies are focusing on Gen Xers as an important target segment. For example, unlike Ameriprise Financial, which targets baby boomers, Charles Schwab recently launched a campaign targeting Gen Xers.¹⁶
 

Most Gen Xers are woefully behind in saving for retirement—and they worry about it. Still, nearly half of Gen Xers say they are so saddled with debt or live on such tight budgets that they can’t even think about saving. Recognizing these pressures, Schwab has started offering solutions linked with this generation’s approach to savings. For example, it has lowered account minimums to $1,000 and offers a high-yield checking account linked to a brokerage account. “If they can start with a checking account, they can invest easily over time,” says a Schwab marketing executive. To engage Gen Xers, instead of talking about “portfolio diversification” or “free trades,” Schwab’s “Talk to Chuck” advertising campaign focuses on everyday issues, such as saving for a home or paying down college debt. By speaking to Gen Xers in their language, Schwab makes investing a viable option for these “savers.” The campaign avoids the business and finance publications traditionally used by financial services advertisers, instead concentrating on lifestyle publications in the area of parenting, home, fitness, and style. Digital media also concentrate on lifestyle platforms. Schwab places ads on baby shower sites, children’s party invitations on Evite.com, mortgage calculators on BankRate.com, and Gen X–oriented entertainment on travel areas of Yahoo! and AOL, along with Wi-Fi sponsorships in airports and sponsorship of MSN’s instant messaging platforms. National television ads and a Web site, www.schwabmoneyandmore.com, support the overall communications effort. The result: Six months into the campaign, younger investors new to Schwab increased 118 percent over the previous year." -- (Book pages 73-74)
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I think I fit that description pretty well, which surprises me, I don't like to think I can be that easily categorized, but:

• I was a latchkey kid, my mom went to work when I was 8 and I had to take care of my younger brother until she came home from work.
• I am not that materialistic, I like traveling and nature, which to me you can't put a price on. 
• I am very skeptical about everything.
• I prefer to research things thoroughly before buying them.
• I prefer quality to quantity.
• I don't care for overt marketing pitches, they turn me off.
• I have a BS in Business and am now pursuing a BS in Photography
• I am behind on saving for retirement

 

Week 3 EOC: Making money for good

Patagonia is one such company. They do things in an environmental way and donate money for the environment.

“Patagonia's corporate identity is built on philanthropy and environmental consciousness. Employees can take up to two weeks of paid leave annually to work for a nonprofit environmental group of their choosing.” http://www.inc.com/top-workplaces/2010/profile/patagonia-richard-sheahan.html

“ High-end outdoor clothier and gear maker Patagonia Inc. is out to prove that a company can generate strong sales while being nearly fanatical about environmental concerns. The Ventura company was the first major clothier to make fleece jackets out of recycled bottles. Nearly a third of the power for its headquarters and adjoining child-care center comes from solar. And it donates 1% of its sales to environmental causes.”  http://articles.latimes.com/2012/may/24/business/la-fi-patagonia-20120525

The founder of Patagonia, Yvon Choinard said:

"No business can be done on a dead planet. A company that is taking the long view must accept that it has an obligation to minimize its impact on the natural environment" ….

”after a few months of soul searching, they concluded that the money the company was contributing to environmental causes barely made a dent in the world's problems and that the greatest good they could do would be to develop Patagonia as an exemplar for other companies to emulate. Their idea was that business firms could educate and lead consumers to become environmentally responsible and, in turn, consumers could influence government policy. (Chouinard, 1995). http://www.anbhf.org/Fellows/ychouinard.htm

Week 2 EOC: Boston Consulting Group - Video Games

Week 2 EOC: Boston Consulting Group - Video Games

 This article positions the upcoming Nintendo Wii U in the Star category of the BCG model and the Sony Playstation 3 in the Cash Cow area.

 “The Wii U has been generating a huge amount of buzz in the video game industry lately. Already we can see how the long list of cross-platform and exclusive Wii U games is turning the focus away from the Wii U’s supposedly underpowered graphical capabilities and toward its robust content offerings. If these exclusive deals continue,  we could see a transformation of the Japanese video game market, especially given Microsoft’s poor footing and Sony’s current struggles.” -http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/09/18/how-nintendo-is-taking-over-the-japanese-video-game-market-one-ip-at-a-time/

Meanwhile, another article postulates that the demise of Nintendo console games to the smartphone market is premature, thus while Nintendo consoles may not be the star that they used to be, they are cash cows. It goes on to say the smart phone gaming is not gaining in market share, putting them in the cash cows or dog segment:

“He acknowledges the arrival and growth of smartphone gaming, but says it’s just not the threat to handheld gaming some have made it out to be. “I think a lot of this discussion is based on the premise that the handheld gaming device market is shrinking or vanishing and I don’t think that is true,” said Iwata. History’s on his side. Nintendo remains the predominant handheld tastemaker. For all the ballyhoo about smartphone gaming, it looks an awful lot today like it did last, and the year before that. And that’s where Iwata makes his best argument: Smartphone gaming is really about killing time, he says, whereas handhelds like the 3DS are about having a “rich experience.”” --http://techland.time.com/2012/08/23/is-the-handheld-video-games-market-shrinking-or-just-changing/

This article too also supports the idea that while the rest of the video game market is floundering, putting Sony and Microsoft into the cash cow category and risking falling into the dog category, Nintendo, with the upcoming arrival of the Wii U, despite competition from phones, is a star:

Videogame sales continue to fall off a cliff — down 42 percent in April. The problem? We’re at the end of a console cycle and consumers are spending more time on social and mobile games on their smartphones and iPads. This year’s E3 is missing the big news of a splashy new video game console from either Microsoft’s Xbox or Sony’s PS3. Nintendo will be rolling out details of its new console, the Wii-U, which it first announced last year, and which is going on sale this holiday season. Nintendo has a unique window to snag new customers for its console — it’ll be another year before Microsoft or Sony come out with a next-generation product.

The Wii U aims to embrace social networking with what it calls the “Miiverse,” to allow gamers to see what others are playing, and to share game content and tips. Nintendo will eventually allow gamers to connect to the “Miiverse” not just through the console, but also through its 3DS handheld, as well as computers and smartphones. --http://www.cnbc.com/id/47674049/Videogame_Dilemma_Old_Hardware_Shrinking_Market

EOC week 1: great customer service

“Good customer relationship management creates customer delight. In turn, delighted customers remain loyal and talk favorably to others about the company and its products.” (Book, page 21)

I had one such experience a while back. I had gone on a weekend trip to the Grand Canyon. The day I was about to leave Flagstaff Arizona to go home, I noticed a problem with the car, it wasn’t shifting properly. This was a Sunday and many places were closed. Finally I found an Aamco transmission place that was open. They told me to leave the car there and have breakfast while they looked at the car. So I came back from breakfast an hour later and they confirmed that it was a problem with the transmission, they said I needed a new one. They told me to leave the car there for a few days while they rebuild it. I told them that was not an option, as I had to be at work in Los Angeles the next day. So the manager told me it was not their usually policy but they could get me a rebuilt transmission from Phoenix, but that it would take all day as Phoenix was a few hundred miles away and they would have a truck pick it up there and deliver it and put it in my car. They gave me a rental car to drive for free and told me to enjoy my day and come back at 6 pm. I went sightseeing with the rental car while they fixed my car. I came back at 6 pm and nervously asked them how it went. The manager said the mechanic had finished and was just taking my car for a test drive. He said if the mechanic parked the car in front of the garage, then things didn’t go well and it wouldn’t be ready, but if he parked it in visitor parking then the repairs went well. I breathed a sigh of relief when the mechanic brought the car and parked it in visitor parking, the car was fixed. I drove straight home that night, 500 miles, arriving home at 1 am, and I went to work the next day. That transmission lasted me 40,000 miles and it saved my trip. I will never forget the kindness and decency of the manager at that Aamco…..

EOC Week 1: my voice

I love traveling. The world we live in is a very beautiful place and the things to see are endless. I love to visit new places and because things are constantly changing, even revisiting old places can be very exciting for me. My curiosity is boundless and I always want to see what is around the next bend and the bends after that. This natural curiousity has led me to many amazing places, primarily national parks in the western United States, but other scenic areas also. I started traveling in my 20s but after some time, I realized that I was having trouble remembering all the places I went to. It is this desire to hold on to these memories that to led to my interest in photography. Originally my images were just these documents of the places I went to but eventually as I learned more and more about photography they became more art than simply documentary photographs. The photographs were meant for my eyes only and would have stayed that way had I not shown some of them to my friends at work, who really liked them and encouraged me to pursue photography. This blog is meant to be about my photography.