Week 10 - What I Learned

As marketing class comes to a close, my biggest takeaway is that marketing is everywhere.

Other takeaways:

Relationships

Marketing is a connection, whether real or perceived.  How you feel about a product or a service and whether that makes you purchase or utilize it is the name of the game.  And because marketing is everywhere - they will find you.  In your social, on a billboard, in the car, or at your doctor's office - marketing is Liam Neeson in Taken.

Better pick up, he's calling to sell you an extended warranty on your car.

Psychology

Psychological influences play a big role in marketing.  Identifying motivation, personality, perception, and perceived risk of your customer can be the difference between success and failure.  The addition of values, beliefs, and attitude and how marketing and advertising can either target specifically or work to change or influence in spite of these details.  

Global Ethics

Protectionism is the practice of shielding one or more industries within a country’s economy from foreign competition through the use of tariffs or quotas.  I haven't stopped thinking about this and waiver between two opinions.  It's a challenge I hadn't ever thought of and while my kneejerk reaction is it's wrong and bad for world trade I can also see the benefit for poorer or emerging countries.  

Cultural Diversity

A thorough cross-cultural analysis involves an understanding of and an appreciation for the values, customs, symbols, and language of other societies.  I have always been fascinated by different cultures, whether it is clothing, color preferences, what flowers mean in different cultures, or something as simple as appropriate ways to handle a business card.  I liked this deeper dive into culture and how it affects marketing decisions. Learning the German word for debt is the same as for guilt is something I've shared with others.  

Don't forget, Marketing is EVERYWHERE!