In Response to Brooke Callaway

Do you think K-mart has a clever way of keeping viewers interested in what they are trying to sell?

I think that Kmart has a great way of advertising their service by intriguing the costumer.  When most people watch commercials on TV or online they mostly will not even pay attention.  This is an ad where it grabs your attention quickly and makes you pay attention to what they are trying to tell you about.  The commercial is trying to use a play on words to catch the listener, and for myself it worked.  I think that ideas like this are great ways to grab the listeners attention and make them pay attention to your commercial.  On the other hand I can see how some people may be offended by the commercial or think that it is inappropriate, but ultimately if it grabs the attention of its viewers that is that matters to the company.

Do you feel that this type of commercial may have a negative affect on the company at all?

How to Market with Tumblr

http://business.transworld.net/128720/news/marketing-with-tumblr/

Social media is a huge form of communication today, and marketing your product or service through social media is a great way to get your company out there.  This article talks specifically about Tumblr, a blog site which is said in the article to be the 32nd most popular website in the world.  The article gives the most likely new market some tips on how to successfully market your product or service on Tumblr. Probably the most useful tip I found was "create content that people will share".  Tumblr and all other social media sites are all about sharing things with one another, and that is what makes them popular.  If you create something that other people will want to share then you are getting your idea spread throughout the site.  People want to read and see things that interest them and can easily look your post aside if it does not meet these ideas.  It seems simple to post things that people want to see but some companies are not able to do that, which probably why someone wrote this article in the first place.

How often do you share a companies post on social media? Do you think this is a good form of marketing?

In Response to Jade Brulotte

Would you invest your life savings in an idea you were fairly confident in?  Or would you have to be completely confident?

I feel that the if you are confident in your marketing plan and strategy that is just as important as being confident in the idea.  I'm sure people have see products or infomercials that seem ridiculous and you ask yourself, who would ever buy that? But the reason why these products are successful is because they were able to create a marketing plan that makes people feel that they need or want that product.  Also in the same sense you could have a great idea for a product or service but if you have no idea how to market it then there is no way that it is going to be successful.  Overall. I think that it comes down to the marketing plan rather than the idea itself.

What other factors make a product or service successful?

Marketing Trends

http://www.forbes.com/sites/thesba/2013/01/23/5-surprising-marketing-trends-for-2013/

This article talks about 5 surprising trends in marketing that have taken place in 2013.  The one that I found most interesting was that they believe that marketing campaigns will not be as popular now, at least for the time being.  It is known that marketing campaigns as been very popular and very successful for many companies, but Forbes believes that this is not the way things are heading.  They believe that because of the new "mobile" world and the aspect of social media that campaign marketing will become obsolete. You would need to plan a campaign months in advance and they're argument is that everyone is doing things in real time today because of all the social media sites.  It is believed that companies will focus on this "real time" marketing by using these mobile sites, instead of a planed out campaign.  This new real time marketing will make it possible for people to see their advertisements immediately online.

Do you feel that this idea is true? Will marketing campaigns become obsolete or stay popular? 

In Response to Will Redding

I think that this can be very helpful for Best Buy.  By starting this price matching people will not need to shop around and can buy more products in the store at once and not have to go to other places.  I think it will help them financially because even if they are selling products for cheaper than desired they will overall be selling more products, which will make up for and hopefully overcome the difference.  Another reason why I believe this will be successful is because the Home Depot has a similar policy and it has worked out very well for them.  They have and meet and beat policy where they will be a competitors price and then beat it by an addition 10 percent.  Although there are some restrictions it had worked out very well for them.  They are the number one home improvement store so they are obviously doing something right.  Although Best Buy and Home Depot are two completely different companies this policy I feel can greatly help Best Buy.  This will create more people coming into the store and more products being sold.  It make take time for it to catch on but I do feel that it will be successful.

Do you feel these price matching policies work better in the long or short run?

Self Marketing

Like we talked about in class self marketing is very important when getting a job.  With all the new technologies out today it can be very easy to promote yourself in a good way and also a bad way. LinkedIn is a great way to keep connections with previous business partners and can be very helpful when getting a job.  Also employers are likely to look someone up on Facebook or Twitter so it has been put out there that people should watch what they are putting on the internet.  This is no news because people should be aware of it anyway, but in the job sense you want to marketable to employers and somethings on these pages are definitely not.  Also when going on job interviews and things of that nature you always need to look and act professional.  When the man from Northwestern Mutual told us about some of his interactions in interviews I find it hard to believe that so many people do not know how to dress for an interview, but obviously it happens.  I feel like many people get the job because of their self marketing.  An employer could find 100 people with the same qualifications as you but you need to be able to sell yourself.  If you are not able to do that then there is no way that people would want to hire you.  
http://blog.marketingtipsforauthors.com/2010/01/10-truths-about-self-marketing-like-it.html

This website talk about ways to self promote yourself and what you should and should not do.  Some things are simple and common sense but others not so much.  It always helps to keep looking for news way to improve on self marketing. 

Have you ever had a situation where someone clearly stood out to you because of how they marketed themselves? How does this make them more appealing? 

In Response to Drew

How do you feel about Walmart's pricing strategy? Do you think that it is clever?

I feel like Walmart's pricing strategy is very successful. They are able to make the costumer see that their prices are different from their competitors.  Although their prices are not much lower they are able to catch to costumers eye to see that they are different.  I know that I have bought items from Walmart that have only been many a dollar or 2 cheaper than the competitor next door.  I also know that I have drove around from Walmart to Target and other stores to saves maybe only 2 dollars.  This marketing can be very persuasive to people like me who are willing to save any dollar that you can.

Do you buy products that are slightly more expensive at a store rather than cheaper at another for more convenience?