Reflection on blogging

Introduction

The internet, predicted by McLuhan (1980) would create a ’’global village’’. In the space of a decade, the internet has made the world a very powerful tool for business and also for the way we communicate. In December 2005, the internet had 16 million users, which counted as 0.4% of the worlds population. By December 2009, the internet had 1. 8 Billion users, which is 26.6% of the worlds population.


Blogs

Marketingterms.com define blogging as ‘a frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and websites’. A blog is normally a combination of a person’s personal views of what is happening in the world, or in their lives at that current time. People kept up with blogs long before the phrase was coined and the trend gained pace when blogger.com was established.

The first blog was published in 1992 and they really kicked off in the late nineties. The early blogs were mostly links to other websites, but they have developed drastically since then, with any person who thinks they have writing talent, the opportunity to express themselves. Blogs have either two aims, to be vain about themselves, family and friends or to have a deeper meaning: politics, environment etc.

Everybody nowadays has some kind of blog. Politicians, footballers, leading businessman. However, although freedom of speech is allowed, the blogger has to still be prepared to deal with any consequences that their words may bring. There have been examples of employees displaying discontent with their employer, only for them to view their blog and to then send their p45 through the post.

Blogging for higher education

Blogs have really progressed in the educational sector, mainly due to their interactivity, with

each user able to publish their own views. An obvious example of this are the blogs for this assignment. After every lecture of the ‘understanding the customer’ module, students were expected to write a blog on what happened in the lecture, this was alongside their own views and thoughts and with a little entertainment to go with it.

This according to (Bausch, Haughey and Hourihan, 2002) ‘’allows for the creation of a legitimate warehousing of captured knowledge and archiving for later retrieval’’

Looking at Ian’s blog appendix A, it is clear to see the influence it has on education. Firstly, as each week has gone on, more things have been added to the blogs like videos and pictures, which makes for a more fun, interactive way of learning. Secondly, as each blog is only 200-300 words, the information is more digestible to readers than reading out of a textbook or journal.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the use of the blog as a 21st century educational tool is very effective at improving the learning capabilities of both the student and lecturer alike. The amount of creative freedom that a student’s gets with a blog, gives the student the opportunity to express themselves, that they wouldn’t get from doing an assignment. Also the fact that it gives students more time out of the classroom to discuss theories and models, gives students an alternative way of learning. This way of learning will be an enhancement for further education and will become key to helping students to actively participate in learning at university.

Social Class

Social class is defined by Kreech, Crutchfield and Ballachey in Dubois (2000) as '...a division in society made up of person possessing a certain common social characteristics which are taken to qualify them for intimate, equal status relations with one another, and which restrict their interaction with members of other social class'.






In societies where different classes exist, is determined mostly by: personal income, occupation, education and family background. There are different characteristics for each different class. For example, in the high realms of social class what you wear, your manners, political standing and reputation, can alter where you stand in the higher rank of social class.


Social class and consumption

Social class is a good indicator of buying behaviour with regards to low to moderate price consumer goods. e.g. cosmetics. However, income is a good indicator of buyer behaviour for non-symbolic high pricing goods. e.g. fridges. For marketers and businesses to predict buying behaviour, both social class and income are needed.



Funny video about social class:

Generational Marketing - Over 50's

Today's over 50's generation is a more affluent, more dynamic than any other previous generations. As a direct consequence of the 1946-1964 baby boom, the group will grow further, and those entering at the younger end of the generation, will have hopes of continuing the lifestlye they have developed. The majority of the over 50 generation are making ways of making the most out of life, and are seeking to interact with brands and services.



The over 50's generation has seen a huge change in the world.

1932 - The great depression
1939 - WW 2 begins
1945 - WW2 ends
1948 - NHS is started
1955 - Commercial TV begins
1966 - England win the world cup
1969 - Man on the moon
1979 - First female prime minister
1982 - Falklands war
1998 - Northern Ireland peace protest

All these things the over 50's generation has experiened, some more directly than others. However, it's important for marketers to appreciate these things when advertising to them.


Certain products have an affinity with the over 50 age group. Items such as PG Tips, artificial sweeteners, vitamins and supplements, gardening tools and life affurance are synonymous with the older generation and its important that companies know this before they start marketing a product.


Changing attitudes

Research has shown the over 50 age group is getting nearer the national average when it comes to product buying. In 1986, a selection over 50's were asked if they enjoyed eating foreign food and if they exercise at least once a week. These were the results:

1986 2006

I enjoy eating foreign food 55% 83%

I do some form of sport or 75% 94%
exercise at least once a week


Other questions were asked on other things, such as going back to the same place for holidays and how much do they rely on television for information, and on each question there was a considerable increase from 1986-2006.







The five groups

There are five groups that the over 50's are segregated into:

Home is where the heart is - 3.9 mil
You cant take it with you - 5.1 mil
It's time to enjoy - 3.2 mil
Mind, body and soul - 3.8 mil
Secure and sophisticated - 4 mil

Home is where the heart is
The average age of these people is 71, 64% are female and 79% are retired. 51% are married and 33% are widowed. They have trust for institutions and brands, security and reliability are important to them and they are driven by a set of rules and principles, so follow a very stuctured way of life. Brands that they would trust would be: dettol, the sun, flash, iceland and ambrosia.

Secure and sophisticated
The average of these people is 63, 75% are male, 38% are still working and 81% are married.
These people are still financially active, making their higher income work for them. They want to look after their fitness and stay healthy and they are keen to adopt new technology, especially the internet.


Funny video of an oap getting revenge on a frustrated driver:

Generational Marketing - Generation x

Generation X

Generation X is the generation after the baby boom ended, with erliest birth dates ranging from 1961 all the way up to 1981. The term generation x was coined by the magnum photographer Robert Capa in the 1950's. Describing why he coined that generation, generation x, he stated 'we named this generation, generation x, and even in our first enthusiasm we realised we had something far bigger than our talents and pockets could cope with.'


In a marketing context, generation xers are moving into 30's-40's and are establishing themselves as consumers, who are starting to have families and buy houses. They grew up during a recession, single-parent families and the internet. So the internet is a great way of marketing to this generation.


According to Fleisichner (2006) in marketing to the generation x, direct mail efforts can be supplemented with online marketing, in the form of targeted site advertising, key word buys, or a sales promotion.

According to Ruth Klein, a branding, marketing and productivity coach, generation x were raised as kids by single, overworked parents in households that lived on tight budgets, therefore they are more careful with their money than generation y. They are not depending on the government for a good pension, so they are more prone to save during their working years. They also put a high value on education and knowledge.

Generational Marketing - Tweens

Tween generation

Tweens are 8-12 year olds or children poised on the verge of adolesence. Today's tweens are confident, high tech, optomistic savvy members of the eco boom. They are very much influenced by television, newspapers and the general media, which for a marketer is a dream. For the tween generation it is cool to be smart. The instant access to information via the internet has given being clever new found respect. 83% of 8-12 year olds stated it is cool to be clever.

Tween spending worldwide has is at its highest , with an estimated $170 billion. According to Euromonitor international, not only have tweens got access to more money they have a greater role in buying decisions. They are creating an identity for themselves and are keen to purchase products that will enhance that image

A key habit in the spending habits of tweens is the age compression phenomonen, commonly known as KGOY (kids getting older, younger). This has seen tweens purchasing more grown up products and forgetting the more traditional toys. This trend has seen psp games console sales increase, and the tween indutry overall has spent $4.3. billion on video games which accounts for 13% of total games sales. Despite the growing sophistication of the tween generation, the majority of their money still goes on confectionary, fizzy drinks and snacks. $18.4 billion was spent on confectionary by tweens.

The future of tweens is that in most countries the number of tweens will decrease. However, they will become more powerful and influential consumers. This will result in greater levels on independence and a general rise in income supplied for, of course, by their parents.

Primark has come under attack from parents, for selling bikinis to the tween age group. Even the conservative leader David Cameron said it 'completely disgraceful' and for companies to take 'moral resonsiblity'. It is a logical development from a wider marketing culture that now targets the tween generation relentlessy, emphasising that their appearance is of supreme importance, more important than any intellectual or emotional capabilities.

Memory and nostalgia

Memory and nostalgia is defined in a marketing context by Britt (1955) as 'Every time an advertisement or commercial appears, the objective is to have the reader or viewer learn something...and remember what he learned'. Rice (1977) suggests that marketings 'ultimate aim is to teach them brand loyalty'.

Memory

Blakemore (1988) states that 'learning is the acquisition of learning and memory is the storage of internal representations of that knowledge'
'without memory we would be servants of the moment......relying on reflexes.....Civilisation itself is the distillation of human memory.'





Memory Process

External inputs-----Encoding Information-----Storage Information------Retrieval Information
is placed in memory is retained in memory is stored in memory
and is found as needed
There are three types of memory: Sensory, short-term, long-term.

Sensory memory - Is the storge of information we recieve from our senses. However, this only last a few seconds.

Short-term - This is very limited. This can also be known as working memory and this holds information we are currently processing.

Long-term - For a person to store information in their long term memory, elaborative rehearsel is needed, which involves thinking about the meaning of the stimulus and relating it to other information already in memory. Marketers use catchy slogans or jingles that consumers can repeat on their own.



Nostalgia

Nostalgia is defined by the dictionary.com as 'a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time: a nostalgia for his college days'






Using nostalgia in a marketing strategy is a very effective way of engaging with potential customers. Everyoone remembers the 'good old days' and as restaurants and other companies have proven, 'the good old day' can pay of in customer loyalty, sales and exposure. An good example of nostalgic marketing is of 'Henry Hippo'. With a smaller audience as the billboards were just located in Northern Ireland, it appealed to the late 20's to early 30's age range who lived in ireland at the time of 'Henry Hippo'. It generated renewed interest in 'Henry Hippo' and also more interest from people in there late 20's early 30's age range in the ulster bank.

Group conformity, opinion leaders and peer pressure

Groups

A group is two or more individuals who share a set of norms, have role relationships and interdependent behaviours.Groups influence the socialisation process. They influence what we learn and how we behave.

Maslows hierachy of needs

The basis of Maslow's theory of motivation is that human beings are motivated by unsatisfied needs, and that certain lower needs need to be satisfied before higher needs can be addressed. Maslow states that there are general needs (physiological, safety, love, and esteem) which have to be fulfilled before a person is able to act unselfishly. These needs were dubbed "deficiency needs." While a person is motivated to fulfill these desires, they continue to move toward growth, and eventually self-actualization. The satisfaction of these needs is quite healthy. while preventing their gratification makes us ill or act evilly.

Maslow suggests that man is a social animal and that man needs unconditional positive regard. Children learn through conditional positve regard. In a marketiong context, marketers and advertising use 'belonging' as a pivotal message in advertising campaigns.





Social comparison theory

The social comparison theory, suggests that people look to the behaviour of others to provide a guide and to reassure us about our self-evaluation. Consumers are selective about who they us as benchmarks in their purchasing decision. Generally speaking, for social comparisons people tend to choose a peer or a person of a standing equivalent to compare themselves with.

Opinion Leaders

An individual whose ideas and behavior serve as a model to others. Opinion leaders communicate messages to a primary group, influencing the attitudes and behavior change of their followers. Therefore, in certain marketing instances, it may be advantageous to direct the communications to the opinion leader alone to speed the acceptance of an advertising message. For example, advertisers may direct a dental floss promotion to influential dentists or a fashion campaign to female celebrities. In both instances, the advertiser is using the opinion leader to carry and "trickle down" its message to influence its target group. Because of the important role opinion leaders play in influencing markets, advertisers have traditionally used them to give testimonials.

Peer pressure

Peer pressure refers to the influence exerted by a peer group in encouraging a person to change his or her attitudes, values or behaviour in order to conform to group norms. Social groups affected include membership groups, when the individual is 'formally' a member or a social clique.


Video of how to build trust and confidence with a customer, through a variety of ways.

Segmentation, targeting and positioning

Segmentation

A market segment is a sub-sector of a market made up of people and organisations, sharing one or more characteristics which causes them to demand a certain product based on its quality. The term 'market segmentation' is used whan a consumer with an identical product or service needs to be divided into groups so they can be charged different amounts. These can be known as 'positive' and 'negative' applications of the same idea, splitting up the market into smaller groups.



According to Brassington and Pettitt (2007) there are four different types of segmentation:

Geographic segmentation -Defines customers according to their location. This is effective for local businesses with limited resources, as they would target in their immediate locality.

Demographic segmentation - This can tell a business about the customer and the customers household on measurable criteria. They are largely descriptive, such as age, sex, income, occupation, socioeconomic status and family structure.

Geodemographic segmentation - Geodemographic can be defined as 'the analysis of people by where they live' (Sleight, 1997, p.16) as it combines geographic information with demographic and sometimes even lifestyle data about neighbourhoods.

Psychographic segmentation - The beliefs, attitudes and opinions of any potential customer. Therefore, this is difficult to gather and consequently to analyse.



Targeting

A target market is the market segment which a particular product is marketed to. It is defined by age, gender and/or socio economic group. Market targeting is the process in which intended actual markets are defined, analysed and evaluated just before the final decision to enter is made. Target marketing is a strategic approach to creating a marketing mix for a specific, targeted market segment and set of buyers.

It involves breaking a market breaking a market into segments and then concentrating your marketing efforts on one or a few key segments. The beauty of target marketing is that it makes the promotion, pricing and distribution of your products and easier and more cost effective. It also provides a focus for all marketing activities.



Positioning

Market positioning is the process by which marketers try to create an image or identity in the minds of their target market for it's product, brand or oganisation. There are two parts of positioning:

Re-positioning involves changing the identity of a product, relative to the identity of competing products, in the collective minds of the target market.

De-positioning involves attempting to change the identity of competing products, relative to the identity of your own product, in the collective minds of the target market.

Generally, the product positioning process involves:

1. Defining the market in which the product or brand will compete (who the relevant buyers are)
2. Identifying the attributes (also called dimensions) that define the product 'space'
3. Collecting information from a sample of customers about their perceptions of each product on the relevant attributes
4. Determine each product's share of mind
5. Determine each product's current location in the product space
6. Determine the target market's preferred combination of attributes (referred to as an ideal vector)
7. Examine the fit between - The position of your product and the position of the ideal sector
8. Position

Values

Values is stated by Ries and Trout (1982) as 'if we believe our overall values drive our behaviour, then we should be concentrating on the important, underlying motives that drive consumers to make product or service choices rather than simply product attributes'. Wilkie also describes values as 'values are our ideas about what is desirable'








Values are an integral part of every culture. Along with beliefs and worldview assumptions, they generate behavior. Being part of a culture that shares a common core set of values creates expectations and predictability without which a culture would disintegrate and its members would lose their personal identity and sense of worth. Values tell people what is good, beneficial, important, useful, beautiful, desirable, appropriate...etc. They answer the question of why people do what they do.

Kahles list of values (1983)

1. Self respect
2. Excitement
3. Being well respected
4. Self-fulfillment
5. Sense of accomplishment
6. Warm relationship with others
7. Security
8. Fun and enjoyment
9. Sense of belonging



Laddering

People have specific terminal values. e.g. self respect. People choose amongst alternative actions to achieve these end states.

Products become a means to achieving these end states. e.g. weight watchers meals.

Laddering techniques enables us to identify the links between functional product attributes and desired end states.



Laddering in a marketing context

The concept of laddering has it's appication in the positioning of a product. When any brand or product, the attention will be on its attributes and benefits. As soon as this is inprinted into the consumers brain, a deeper meaning has to be associated with the brand. For example, doves marketing has changed from just soap, to 'celebrating real beauty'. Nike is now about athletic performance.

Laddering can only work if the consumer is convinced by the basic functions of the product. The advantages of laddering is that the brand will hopefully break free from the product restrictions