Chapter 15

Today we talked about Advertising and Public Relations. We discussed the importance of advertising and how the most successful companies, like Coca-Cola, are built by heavy advertising and marketing investments.  There are several types of product advertising, including pioneering, competitive, and comparative, each type used in different stages of a products life cycle.  Public Relations is the element in the promotional mix that evaluates public attitudes.  It identifies issues that may elicit public concern and executes programs to gain public understanding and acceptance.

Chapter 12

I missed the class discussion on this chapter, which I would have liked to have been to because for me it is one of the more complicated chapters.  It involves marketing channels and supply chain management.  A marketing channel is a set of interdependent organizations that ease the transfer of ownership as products move from producer to business user or consumer.  Channel members include intermediaries, resellers and middlemen.  They negotiate with one another, buy and sell products and facilitate the change of ownership between buyer and seller in the course of moving the product from manufacturer into the hands of the final consumer.

Chapter 14

Chapter 14 to me is what I thought Marketing really was.  I didn't realize everything else that was involved.  Chapter 14 is about promotion and the promotional mix. A promotional strategy is a plan for the optimal use of the elements of promotion:  advertising, public relations, personal selling and sales promotion.  These are the things that most people of  when they think of "marketing."  We also talked about blogging tonight. I have a few friends that have blogs that discuss products and businesses.  I am amazed at how many people read these blogs and follow them.  It's pretty amazing that a housewife can have so much influence over what people purchase or where they shop.

Chapter 10

I had no idea what goes into developing products.  It's not just thinking of something and distributing it.  There are vital steps when it comes to producing and distributing a successful product.  A new product strategy is developed which links the new product development process with the objectives of the marketing department, the business unit, and the corporation.  Idea generations comes from many different sources including, customers, employees, distributors, competitors, and vendors.  Ideas are generated through brainstorming and then put through several testing phases before distributing to customers.

Chapter 8

Chapter 8 is all about decision support systems.  A decision support system is an interactive, flexible, computerized information that enables managers to obtain and manipulate information as they are making decisions.  Marketing research plays a vital role in any marketing system.  It is the planning, collecting and analyzing data relevant to a marketing decision.  Marketing research has three roles:  descriptive, diagnostic, and predictive.

Chapter 7

Today's topic of discussion was Market Segmentation, which before reading this chapter I had no idea what that meant.  Well, market segmentation is a subgroup of people or organizations sharing one or more characteristics that cause them to have similar needs.  Market Segmentation makes it possible to tailor markets to meet the needs of specific segments.  It helps define customers needs and wants more precisely and objectives can better be evaluated.  There are several bases for segmentation, including geography, age, gender and ethnicity.

Chapter 5

Today in Marketing, we discussed the consumer and the decision making process when they are purchasing something.   It is important to understand consumer behavior so that a company can try to match their targeted needs and wants.  Another thing that was discussed was cognitive dissonance, which is the inner tension that is experienced after recognizing an inconsistency between behavior and values.  Like making a purchase and then thinking later, "What did I do?"  Who hasn't gone through that!  I think everyone at some point has made a major or important purchase and had regrets or concerns after it was all said and done.