Final Reflection On Blogging

My reflection at the end of completing most of the blogs on topics covered through the last year. Is that blogging is not soo hard for what i throught it was. you just have to put you head down and type away. its more like your writing out your daily journal, about what you did in lecture and what you have learnt from it. blogging is extremlly good way of getting you own thoughts across to others. as you can write whatever you feel on it. the option to add pictures and videos allowed me to make my blogs look more attractive. therefore people would want to read it, they would not find it boring like a book with no picture. videos allows me to gain a clearer understanding of the topic discusses as well as clearly link to the topic giving others a clear view and examples of the discussed topic. i worked extremelly hard on my blogs however i was really bad to leave it last mintue. the best way to get a sucessful blogging flow is to post striaght away when its free in your head or you will struggle. i got used to blogging quite quickly and find it a great site to use. i just hope that my blogs to get me good grades. and in future will help other students to learn the topics i have disucussed :D:D:D:D:D .....

Segmentation ,Targeting and Positioning

segmentation is “The process of splitting customers, or potential customers, in a market into different groups, or segments, within which customers share a similar level of interest in the same or comparable set of needs satisfied by a distinct marketing proposition.”
(http://www.marketsegmentation.co.uk/segmentation_tmsc.htm)

 

Market segmentation is when the markets are split in different groups. with similar needs and interests. Each segment is then put in to certain profiles. Many companies used market segmentation to put their buyers in to groups in order to analyse and target the right market.
Company may put the segments into certain profiles in which they put their customers. Some examples of profiles in segmentation can be :

 

• Age

 

• Culture

 

• Lifestyle

 

• Income

 

• Social class

 

• Gender

 

Segmenting the market in to group enable the company to be able to advertise and target the right product and services to the right target market.
For example companies selling toothpaste have a range of different products that are directed at certain people. The segmentation profiles would be the types of toothpaste and what they are for. Such as sensitive may be a profile which they would target people with sensitive teeth with the product of sensitive teeth toothpaste. Also toothpaste are for different needs are suited to different markets. Such as toothpaste for white teeth, fresh breath , protection, children, babies etc.

 

STP MARKETING

 

S- Segmentation

 

T- Targeting

 

P- Positioning

 

Market Segmentation (Segmenting) - dividing the market according to a specific set of criteria for a relatively homogeneous group of buyers.

Selecting the target market (Targeting) - is linked to the highlighted term attractiveness of segments and selection of operating concepts of the market.

Seo offers (Positioning) - This is the business of creating value and image (image) data on the offer by the target market, leading to the seizure of an explicit, place in the minds of customers through the range and create competitive advantage.
(http://eng.biznesowe.edu.pl/124-marketing_stp/)

STP Marketing by Doyle

  

STP is important to make sure to chose the right target market the aim of segmentation is to find the right market. The tactic used are:

 

Breaking the market into components
Regrouping them into market segments
Select which segment to target

 

There are a range of advantages of segmentation for companies these include:

• Helping to reach the right customer and not wasting time.
• Increase profits by targeting the right audience with the right product and service.
• To retain customers through FLC
• Help to gain more customers alongside gain feedback from the chosen target market

Intial thoughts on blogging

Blogging is a excellent way of expressing your learning and understanding of topics learnt in certain modules. It is like a computerised diary about you day to day life . more like a review of the lecture and summary of what we learnt in our own words, when i first started to use blogger i was extremelly confused as to what i was supposed to do with it. i also was confused with how to do certain things on it. however it is extremelly easy once you get used to it.blogging is well known and i know highly used by people. so hopefully i shall be using blogger many more time in the future.
 we have to complete 15 post on this blogger in order to complete our final assignement each blog will cover topics learnt through out the lectures for the module "understanding the customer" till the end of the year. these blogs are like a diary to what we have learnt also like a web book that other students can read and learn about what we learnt in our lecutres.

Enterprise Week

To be honest i dont remeber much from that week. unfortunately this will therefore be quite a short post as i have left it so late and totally forgot most points about enterprise week. During enterprise week I did not really take part in many activities that were involved in but i will explain about my experience to the event that I attended.


during this week we did not have any lectures to attend for our modules however we did have to attend two important lecture. There were also a range of events that students could attend mainly free of charge. The lecture that we were told to attend i Unfortunately did miss the first lecture however i attended the second lecture “ telling it how it is" i don’t really remember a lot about it as it was a long time ago. And as I’m such a last minute person unfortunately i decided to write about it in the end. When i hardly remember anything. The lecture was quite useful to me as we did find out a lot of information about marketing communication and they way the marketing and working environment is. Also we were able to ask a range of question along with hear the insight of people from different organisations and their job roles. The information i gathered from the discussion allowed me to retain note and information to use in one of my assignment. As there were so many students in the lecture theatre at the time of the lecture it helped me as their where a larger level of students asking more questions to the guest speakers. Which helped me to gain future more information about different topic i was learning. It also helped me to gain an insight into the industry and what job roles are available in different kinds of agencies.

Generational Marketing

This blog is going to be on generational marketing, which is method of marketing to a specific generation and the way we promote and sell products and services to them. There are a range of different products and services that are available for all generation types. Each of the generation have different types of characteristics about themselves. Promoting products and services to a specific generation can be easily done by the way they may act or speak.

A few generation types are known as :

1. Millennial or generational 2001ers- these are the people that are born after the 1980's

2. Baby busters or generation Xers- these are the ones born between 1965 to 1980

3. Baby boomers- these are the ones born between 1946 to 1964

4. Mature citizens- these are the ones born between 1909 and 1945

As many organisers have a range of products and service. They may chose to promote them to a specific generation, in order to do this they provide the products and service to suit the particular generation type. The lifestyle and social values of specific generations influence their decision on buying certain products and services. in order for the organisers to successfully market to the chosen generation they need to understand the target.

Each generation goes through the same life cycle from when they are born till they are at old age. In order to build brand loyalty marketing agencies find out more about their consumers and the place they have in society quickly.


Age subcultures impacts a the identity of a person and their habits, alongwith their spending. Depending on the way a person is whist growing up and the environment and generation around them. Their spending pattern will have a significant similarity to someone in the same generation group rather than someone in a higher or lower group. People in the similar age group or sharing similar experiences are known as age cohorts. people in the same generation group are potential targets for marketers.

Now I will tell you about one of the generations we have:

The over 50s

Seems like such a boring market doesn’t it, The old people . commonly known as the old age pensioners ( OAP’s). The over 50s may seem like a boring generation but actually they aren’t . although people now days don’t seem to hold the same values and aspirations as the over 50s did in their time. Marketers tend to market products and services to them.

During the years the over 50s have been through they had been through alot:

The great depression in 1932

The world war 2 starting 1939

World war 2 ending 1945

The welfare state 1948

Geroge VI dieing 1952

Commericail TV beginning 1955

Motorway Aid Travel 1958
England wining world cup 1966
Man on the moon 1969
Decimalisation 1971
Brain joining the EU 1973
Frist female prime minster 1979
The Falkland war 1982
Peace in northern Ireland 1998

The over 50s
Marketers have researched on what products and services over 50s used the most therefore directly market those products to them. The 50s don’t really buy lots of things like we do and are interested in things such as gardening and boring things.
The over 50 are likely to buy product that have a brand and that have been around for a long time. Some of the products that they buy and things they commonly attract to are :

Fairy liquid

Domestos original

Andrex

Cussons imperial leather

Birds eye

Domestos

Pledge clean & dust

Bassett’s liquorice allsorts

Mcvities ginger nuts

Beef ox
Health food shops
Poppy day appeal

Clearly you can see that these are well known brand that have been around for a long time. Where there are lots of alternative products out now that people by instead of spending more money on the expensive known brands.
Likewise with household products holidays and leisure spending the over 50s tend to spend on well know brand with full guarantee and quality service.

The over 50 attitutes and values are quite old fashion and may seem quite boring as most of them like staying at home. However they are many that now are quite active. They are also finicaily active and now a days want to stay active and fit looking after their health. They are also very keen to keep up to date with new trends and technology such as the internet.

Today’s Over 50s are a larger, more affluent and more dynamic group than any previous generation. It is important for us not to be blind to the fact that not all over 50s are old un fit and boring. Also many in their different ways the majority are actively seeking to enjoy life, and want to interact with brand and service providers. Therefore this generation can also be marketed in to with ranges of product and services also in the coming years people are becoming more fitter and the over 50s are somewhat wealthier as well.

Gift Giving

This blog is on gift giving from what I think gift giving is when you buy something in good will for someone. Either for an occasion like birthday, wedding, anniversary , graduation and many more. Sometimes buying a gift for someone is extremely hard as you don’t know whether they will like it or not. It depends on who the gift is for. Well sometime people say its not what you buy for the person or how much you brought it for “it’s the thought that counts”. Many children get extremely excited during Christmas or the birthday as the know they are going to get lots of presents. The gesture of giving a gift to someone is warm and emotional. Also forgetting to give someone a gift is extremely emotional for women epically. E.g. for a husband to forget a anniversary present! I feel sorry for him. Likewise for a boyfriend to forget a valentine present the girlfriend would be extremely unhappy and problem not let the guy forget for the next few years. gift giving may not only be for occasions. People give gift to their love ones just to make them happy.

During the main festivals, and religious events. Most shops and retailer tend to put their products and service on sale as the know that lots of people are going to be buying gift for their family and friends. Such as Christmas sales, Eid sales, boxing day sales, Easter sale etc.

During these time a lot of companies advertise the products and service to gain more customer with special deals and promotions.

Women are more likely to be the practical ones when it come to gift giving, and would spend more time choosing gifts and purchasing them. They find time to invest in making their friends and family happy. Whereas men find it worthwhile to spend time doing other things. When coming to buying gift they don’t spend much time thinking and purchase things straight away. Buying gift for love ones need time and a lot of attention whereas men simply don’t have the time or mentality to do it properly. Whilst women do .

SOCIAL CLASS AND PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR

“Social classes are the hierarchical arrangements of people in society as economic or cultural groups.”
People are put in certain social classes, based on social power, wealth or another criterion

Although there are many factors that influence people in their buying behaviour. these can be because of the persons nature or nurture. Social class is a large factor that affects the way decision of purchase. Most societies are put in to different social classes. Depending on which social class a person is from their are significant difference between them and another person within another social class. These difference are in culture, education , income, dietary preferences, housing status, power, ownership, economic circumstances. People may not always stay in the same class as they can move up or down depending on economic and social changes in their life’s.

Social class can be measured in grades : ( UK Population )
A - upper middle class
B - middle class
C1 - lower middle class
C2 - skilled working class
D - working class
E - lower class

If you look at the following website there is a lot more information about social class by Kath Mcguire.

http://www.ucel.ac.uk/shield/docs/notes_class.pdf

in the past the past there where not many grades in social class as their where only upper class, middle and lower class. Depending on what class you are in the spending and personal income left. Consumers in the higher class had more income therefore would be able to spend more money on purchasing things whereas the buying behaviour of he middle and lower class was different as they would not have alot of money to spend on products and service which the upper class can. Advertisers now a days due to the increase in income and the variety of classes their are many different groups that they are target their products and services. Their are ranges of different products and services directed at a certain social class. As women now are at a higher status then they where in the past. Marketers can market far more ranges of products and service to them.

Social class and income are both needed to predict the consumers behaviour when it comes to expensive items like cars or homes and large purchase decisions