Prompt 9: Recognizing Significance

By: Shannon Crilley

      Fox News published an article about marketing strategies on Pinterest in the fall of 2016. The article explains the importance of brands marketing themselves for big audiences and Pinterest is one of the best ways to do this. Pinterest is a great platform for marketing products because it encourages sharing content found online. This makes it easy for companies to reach a wide variety of clients through "shares" and "re-posts".
      For marketing teams, the most crucial part of understanding the market of Pinterest is to identify an audience's interests. A company can easily do this by checking the best- performing pins and boards and they can see which of their products are getting shared by users and which are not. Another way for marketing teams to gain insight into their audiences is to create curated boards. They can invited Pinterest users to collaborate on a board with them. Not only with this allow the marketing team to see what's of interest to their customers, they can also create a deeper connection to their consumers this way.
      Pinterest has also recently created advertising opportunities for brand names on their site. Companies will pay millions of dollars to be marketed on this site due to the constant traffic and the amount of sales made daily on Pinterest. Marketing teams are very interested in this new form of advertising Pinterest has allowed brands to create, and moving forward into the future, Pinterest will be a great place to launch new products and make sales.

Liu, Leysa. "5 Myths About Pinterest Marketing". Fox News U.S. FOX News Network, 17 Oct. 2016.  Accessed Mar. 28. 2017.

What is Performance Marketing?

By Shuting Qi

Today our topic is going to approach the last part in the Holistic Marketing model, which is Performance Marketing. Let’s start with a simple definition, performance marketing, by thepma.org, is “Performance Marketing is a comprehensive term that refers to online marketing and advertising programs in which advertisers and marketing companies are paid when a specific action is completed; such as a sale, lead or click.” This strategy seems complicated but actually not. In a word, Performance Marketing is how a firm know whether their marketing actives are successful or not by comparing feedback and data.


In more detail, a firm should consider the marketing profitability, which means financially whether specific marketing action influences company’s profit or not. Moreover, marketing nowadays approaches to social responsibility marketing increasingly. For the reasons that a firm as a public figure has their responsibilities and roles in the society. Each product and marketing action would more or less influence this society. Thus, when firm practice performance marketing should consider their social roles and their influences to this society.

After introduce what is Performance Marketing, now let’s talk about the benefits from doing performance marketing. Tacking the feedback of marketing active needs little investments but will bring lots of profits. The data from the tracking marketing actives could be used in the development of the next product. Most of the firm will choose to do performance marketing by online channels, because the data collection will be easier to analysis.

In a word, Performance Marketing is an essential composition in Holistic Marketing model.

Kotler, Philip, Kevin Lane Keller, and Taihong Lu. Marketing Management in China. Singapore: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009. Print.

Marketing for Small Businesses

By: Lindsey Murphy

Marketing strategies should differ based on what you are marketing, who you are marketing to, and what kind of business is doing the marketing. I feel like when we think of marketing, we think of big-name companies trying to advertise big products to a large audience. But this isn’t always the case, so I wanted to research how marketing plays a role in small businesses.

Because of the growth in cellular browsing, a simple way to make small businesses more accessible is to ensure their websites are mobile-friendly. Another way to keep up with the growing use of technology is to adapt to different methods of payment such as Apple Pay and advertise its use. I work at a family-owned business and customers have even showed that they were impressed by how quick we were to begin using the chip-readers at the register. Another way I have noticed small businesses to market themselves online is by interacting with potential customers. The business I work at also uses this, by posting Instagram posts frequently with new clothing to the store, employees in action, and other events or businesses in the area.

A classic but overlooked way to reach consumers is email. According to smallbiztrends,”email marketing is one of the most ROI-positive strategies out there.” ROI is a term used for returns of investment, and 68% of companies rated the use of email as “good” or “excellent.” While the public thinks the use of email is declining, this number was actually a 3% increase from last year. The use of videos, blogs, and data, are other ways that small businesses can help make their mark to the masses. These strategies were interesting to learn and don’t differ too much from the efforts of larger, more well-known companies. It is very essential of small businesses to keep up with the trends of technology with its ongoing presence in our lives.

Gazdecki, Andrew. "6 Small Business Marketing Growth Strategies for 2017." Small Business Trends. N.p., 27 Dec. 2016. Web. 26 Mar. 2017. <https://smallbiztrends.com/2016/12/small-business-marketing-growth-strategies.html>.

Prompt 8: Practicing Your Knowledge

By Allison Zwarka

In the beginning of last year I was lucky enough to be placed at an internship with USA Hockey NTDP through my high school. We had an internship class where throughout the semester we would work at least 4 hours a week. Before we started working we had a project to research a little more information about what field we were interested in. I was pretty set on sports marketing and focused my research on that. From the information I found I was able to learn a lot about the field and what it entails, however, all that information would never have prepared me enough for what sports marketing actually asks of you.

Being with USA Hockey gave me the hands on opportunity that is necessary to fully understand what a sports marketer does. With my internship I was only required to work during games and help out with game day operations. I assisted with season ticket holder experiences, in game promotions, stats, ticket sales, and exclusive club packages. Having a hands on experience is a lot more beneficially, for me at least, because I'm a very visual learner. Being able to see what to do and then executing it was more rewarding for my learning. From the pie chart shown below we can see that majority of people are visual learners as well.

                             

http://www.personal.psu.edu/bxb11/LSI/LSI.htm

Being able to actually work in the sports marketing environment revealed to me the truth about how demanding and stressful the job can be. When working in sports or entertainment you hear that you will be working many nights and weekends because that is when the events occur. What you don't realize, though, is that in order to prepare for the events you work all day as well. This job is not for someone wanting a family. The hours are long and a lot of the time you will even have to bring your work home. Ultimately, this experience was able to open my eyes to the realities of the requirements for this type of job.

What Content Marketers Can Learn About Politics

By Jen Mylett

Content marketing is a little different from regular marketing as it takes today’s popular and interesting ideas to attract, acquire, and engage a specific audience.

Today, politics and Donald Trump seem to be a controversial and widespread topic throughout the US and the world. By taking today’s key issues, meaningful, and sometimes humorous content can be created to attract consumers.

Various news stations, bloggers, TV show hosts, etc. all may have a different view of Trump, but whatever they say about him, it is to get a rise out of a specific group of individuals, be it republican or democratic. For example, the TV shows like Saturday Night Live often create comical skits focusing on Trump and his decisions. The producers aren’t afraid to be offensive towards politicians or viewers, and even though they won’t gain many Pro-Trump fans, they are well aware that a significant number of Americans are still watching their show.

For your business, think about the key issues consumers are hooked on and take a stand on the issue to gain a trustful reputation. The content strategy that a company would carry out does not have to be what is expected. Just because Trump is the current president, does not mean that you are required to mention positive things about him if they choose not to. In order to gain new customers for a company, one must attempt to have new approaches and share new opinions.

Finally, the most important aspect of a business is their overall quality of a good or service. A business revolving around food, for example, could not hold an anti-Trump platform to gain customers if their food products are not appetizing. It is essential for a business to have a reputation of insight and quality in order to have returning customers.

Pulizzi, Joe. "Six Useful Content Marketing Definitions." Content Marketing Institute. N.p., 6 June 2012. Web. 21 Mar. 2017. <http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2012/06/content-marketing-definition/>.

Marketing Terms

    By: Shannon Crilley

      Every occupation uses certain terms that may be unfamiliar to those not in that specific field of study. These terms or "code words" all have meanings for different marketing strategies, products, advertising methods, and many, many more. Using these terms can increase efficiency in the work place and it can also guarantee that employees know and understand the information they are speaking on. Special acronyms and terms are huge in the medical world but they are use in almost every other field as well, including marketing!

Some common examples of terms used in the marketing field are:
A/B Testing: The process of comparing two variations of a single variable to determine which performs best in order to help improve marketing efforts.
B2B (Business to Business): When companies are selling to other companies.
Bounce Rate: The percentage of people on a companies website and leave without naviagting onto another website's page.
PPC (Pay Per Click): An advertising technique in which advertisers put an add in an advertising venue (Google, Facebook, etc) and pays that venue each time a visitor clicks the add.

      These are just a few of the hundreds of terms that marketers use everyday in their jobs. They need to know the meanings and when to correctly use them in the work place and with clients in order to maximize their sales.


Biedrzycki, Alec. "The Ultimate Dictionary of Marketing Terms You Should Know." HubSpot. N.p.           Accessed 21 Mar. 2017.

Marketing Strategies

By: Lindsey Murphy

Marketing always has to have some sort of strategy to find a fitting way to deliver a message to the intended audience. Here are five key ways marketers are using their creative energy in their marketing campaigns.

1. Embrace user generated content. The point of social media is for people to feel more connected to each other. Most of the content we as millennials are those that are created by our peers. Companies can achieve this level of involvement by having consumers share their content, such as ideas or personal stories.
2. Collaborate with influencers. With the growing use of sharing opinions and experiences on social media, influencers are becoming popular. Influencers are seen in various forms of social media such as Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. An influencer could be a youtuber getting sponsored by a company to use their beauty products and share their positive thoughts on the product so viewers will buy it. Bloggers and vloggers make money with their influence in exchange for a company gaining a new audience and increasing brand awareness.
3. Be different. Separating yourself from the rest is an important concept of marketing. Creativity is an important skill that allows you to think outside the box on a marketing campaign.
4. Find inspiration from other brands. Apple is a good example of continuously successful marketing campaigns. Its innovation and ability to be different from other companies created a strong brand recognition that still exists among consumers.
5. Experiment with nostalgia. When you hear an old song for the first time in a few years, it’ll bring you back to the time that you last heard it. This feeling of nostalgia is a powerful feeling that can make people feel emotional for the past. Brands such as Coca-Cola, Calvin Klein, and Internet Explorer have used this strategy to take our generation back to the nineties in recent campaigns.

Newlands, Murray. "15 Marketing Strategies That Inspire Strategic Thinkers." Inc.com. Inc., 24 Mar. 2015. Web. 19 Mar. 2017. <http://www.inc.com/murray-newlands/15-marketing-strategies-that-inspire-strategic-thinkers.html>.

Prompt 7: Contemplating Controversy

By Shuting Qi


As I talked before, social media transformed Marketing into a new age. YouTube marketing is an adaptive strategy because it contains massive viewers and YouTubers which creates an enormous traffic volume. In another word, YouTube is a platform for users. Here are two most essential ways for marketing strategies:

Channels: 

In YouTube marketing, commences can create Channels to advertise their products or YouTubers who specialize in particular fields advertise products for business.

                  

Ads:
Before or in between almost every YouTube videos, there are lots of different type of ads. Sometimes it is based on your review preferences, but other there are movies trailers.

                     


However, there is a debate regarding the Pros and Cons for YouTube Marketing. According to an article, YouTube Marketing has it's both sides, Pros, and Cons. Now let us look at each side.

Pros:

-YouTube is the second largest search engine.

-Strongly supported by Google.

-Completely free for both users and uploaders (YouTubers)


Cons:

- “Completely free” also means no guaranteed outcome for marketing

-YouTube has certain limitations for promotion ads

-The choices of covers for videos are competitive at one page

I will not state a conclusion of whether YouTube marketing is simply good or bad but leave an open discussion for all of the viewers. So do you think YouTube Marketing is a well-performed strategy? Why or why not?

Fairley, James Dean. "The Pros and Cons of YouTube Business Marketing." Linked in. Linked in, 31 Mar. 2015. Web. <https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/pros-cons-youtube-business-marketing-james-dean-fairley>.

Future Marketing Strategy Trends

By Jen Mylett

We are quickly moving into an extremely technology-filled environment. Illustrated in the latest hiring trends, digital skills have been shown to be more in demand than ever before. Looking back at the data from the year previous, it is shown that digital marketers are the more often hired than other types of marketing professionals. Of the companies surveyed, just 39% hired a new digital marketer, whilst only 25% hired a new project manager.

The majority of companies plan on hiring at similar rates in the future as they had in the last year. Over a quarter plan to hire even more than 2016, whilst just less than 1 in five are planning on hiring less. This shows that marketers are going to be put into an overall positive position in the industry.

Skill sets that are desired for employment are led by digital marketing expertise. It has been found that the majority of marketing roles required some digital marketing experience or analytical skills. So, if you'd like to be a marketer, it would be smart to increase your skills in those areas!

Allen, Robert. "2016 Marketing Hiring Trends." Smart Insights. N.p., 20 May 2016. Web. 16 Mar. 2017. <http://www.smartinsights.com/managing-digital-marketing/personal-career-development/2016-marketing-hiring-trends-digital-jobs-continue-strong-growth/>.