introduction

Due to unforeseen circumstances, it seems my summer internship has fallen through. No worries - it may pick back up again, but in the meantime, I wanted to write about how I’ve interpreted some of the most interesting business concepts in marketing…

I’m currently taking a class at Foothill College called Principles of Marketing. So far, my professor is nice and seems like the perfect Bay Area mom to be teaching this class. It’s good that the textbook is interesting too, since this is an async course and the reading takes up most of the assignments. The book goes in detail about numerous well known companies, from Amazon to Chick-Fil-A, and uses their strategy as examples. Right off the bat, I learned that the most important aspect companies should focus on is meaningful customer engagement > growth/sales/profit. You can’t just try to serve all customers because someone, somewhere, will not be satisfied. Picking a target market for your products and services is the first step to successful marketing. I even learned about the 4 Ps: Price (how much), Product (what it is), Promotion (how you will let them know), and Place (where/how you are selling it).

One of the most crucial parts about understanding the target market is the micro and macroenvironment. There are so many factors to consider when selling a product or service. Take technological, for example (under macroenvironment). Even the biggest companies face vulnerability with an ever-changing technological climate. Knowing how to adapt well is extremely important. Another thing that stuck out to me - demographics - “the study of human populations in terms of size, density, location, age, gender, race, occupation, and other statistics” (Armstrong: Marketing: An Introduction). The world’s growing population poses many challenges and opportunities for business. Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, and Gen Z have all grown up in different marketing climates. Generational marketing happens when marketers form age specific segments within a group.

In the microenvironment, success is building relationships with other companies, supplies, marketing intermediaries, competitors, publics, and customers. For example, marketing intermediaries are resellers, physical distribution firms, marketing service agencies, and financial intermediaries - helping the company sell and distribute its products to buyers. Coca cola is a great example; they partner with each retail business to analyze demographic areas, the color and font of drive through menus, the pictures that induce customers to order food, and more.

I’m already learning so much, and it amazes me that there is a whole textbook about marketing. I’m not sure if I want to be a advertiser, but it definitely makes sense given how surrounded we are by it. Anything I do, anything I start will require marketing in some form. Can’t wait to get started!