Fluent Essays

please check the attached files, Article and event discussions. I want you to reply to my classmate event_posts.docx article_discussion_posts.docx Unformatted Attachment Preview Post 1: Brand Marketing COLLAPSE Source: Balis, Janet. “Brand Marketing Through the Coronavirus Crisis.” Harvard Business Review, 27 Apr. 2020, hbr.org/2020/04/brand-marketing-through-the-coronavirus-crisis. Summary: This article explains how businesses are changing their marketing strategies during this coronavirus pandemic. In the article it talks about how businesses are making changes to serve and grow their customer base, mitigate risk, and take care of their people. Reflection: The article disgusted many different ways in how businesses are changing their ways in marketing but two main strategies that I’ve noticed in the media caught my attention. The first one is the use of promoting their new cleaning and safety practices to attract customers. Businesses are now promoting their safety procedures to draw in customers like how often they clean and how they can be contactless. The second one is businesses are now playing on pathos, businesses now are now marketing themselves by using empathy. Many commercials that are now seen almost always states we understand that times are hard right now but we are here to help. This statement makes the consumer feel like they are understood and this business cares about them. The article states many other ways but these are the two that I keep noticing in my day to day life. Post 2: Amazon vs Walmart COLLAPSE Source: This is a podcast titled Amazon vs Walmart The Stealth Enemy Wondery, the podcast is from May 6th, 2020. Link to the podcast: https://wondery.com/shows/business-wars/# Summary: The podcast talks about the pandemic and how it has helped and also destroyed two of the biggest retailers in Amazon and Walmart. In order to shop people have turned to the internet to buy necessities but as a result this has shown businesses around the world to be prepared for sudden market changes. They are also being destroyed from within because the workers have grown upset with the treatment they have been receiving during these difficult times. Reflection: Amazon and Walmart both have to practice marketing resource allocation. Because of the pandemic, people are in a frenzy and they are starting to buy toilet paper and disinfectants so it’s on the suppliers and stores to keep them in stock in order to turn a profit. Jeff Bezos is projected to become the first trillionaire in 2026 because he is taking advantage of this opportunity by selling products online people can maintain their distance while staying home. Each business should look at Amazon and Walmart as examples because they have shown that even during a pandemic you can be prepared through the work of marketing and supply chain we can get through this together. post3: Marketing during COVID-19 Source Summary Reflection COLLAPSE This is an article titled “Brand Marketing Through the Coronavirus Crisis” from Harvard Business Re 04/06/2020 https://hbr.org/2020/04/brand-marketing-through-the-coronavirus-crisis This HBR article gives companies guidance on how to serve and grow their customer base, mitigate risk, their employees during COVID-19. In particular, the article encourages marketers to present with empath transparency, associate their brand with good, adapt quicky, and plan for the future. The article also focu increasing need for digital transformation and strategy to reach customers in new ways during this time This article discusses the topic of Marketing Strategy Reformulation because it addresses how companies their marketing strategy during the COVID-19 crisis. It discusses how companies will need to quickly adj messages, adjust how they engage their audience at this time, and to communicate with sensitivity to the This article also addresses Corporate Social Responsibility. It suggests that companies who participate in during this crisis, such as pursing charitable endeavors and making generous use of their resources, will remembered by customers long after the crisis is over. My post was: Choosing the right customer COLLAPSE Refer to the HBR article Choosing the right customer. • In your own words, briefly summarize the article in no more than five sentences. • The article offers insight into how companies should identify the right customers for their products. Companies should define their strategies to fit the customer’s needs. Companies may choose to identify one primary customer while others opt not to choose a single primary customer. The article also states that when companies make the strategic choice of their primary customer, the business is well defined. The article also discusses a customer-driven framework for company executives, which includes identifying the best primary customer for the company, understanding the customer values, allocating resources accordingly, and designing an interactive control process. Do you agree with the notion that all companies should choose a primary customer and prioritize resources to serve the needs of the primary customer? Why or why not? Yes, I agree that all companies should choose a primary customer and prioritize resources to serve the needs of that particular customer. Companies must be aware of the customer values, and therefore having a primary customer helps the company conduct systematic research about a single primary customer. Not having a primary customer would translate that the company would have a wide range of prioritized customers, some of whom do not add value to the company. Therefore, singling out one primary customer would help the company translate into more success since it can understand its primary customers needs and values. Prioritizing company resources helps to serve the needs of the primary customer and adds value to what the customer values. Pleasing primary customers helps encourage company brand loyalty, which cannot be achieved when pleasing everyone. • Application: Discuss the primary customer selection of a company/brand, you know. Do you agree with their choice? Why or why not? Nike is a major producer of athletic shoes and sports equipment. Nike’s primary customers are athletes, mainly aged between 15-40 years. I agree with Nikes primary customer selection, as it is the most appropriate market for their sports shoes and equipment (Nike). It does not necessarily mean that Nike does not have other customer audiences, but most of Nikes resources are prioritized to serve the needs of their primary customer, sports athletes. Having a primary customer helps set the track for the business and also creates a loyal customer base. References Nike’s Official Website. Retrieved from https://www.nike.com/ Simons, R. (2014). Choosing the right customer. Reply: Hi, thanks for the read great post. I totally agree with you on your second point that companies should choose a primary customers and serve the needs of the customer. Brand loyalty is important to any business so by focusing on the primary customer you help them with their needs while they also buy your products. I used Dicks as my example so Nike and Dicks are almost the same because even though they do have a primary customer they also focus on some of their secondary customers. Post1: This article lays out a customer-driven framework for companies that executives use to help their company build a winning business strategy. The first step is to identify your primary customer, this primary customer is a customer that will bring the most value to your business not just profits. The second step is to understand what your primary customer values which is to identify which products or services attribute to your customers values. The third step is to allocate resources to win, which means to make decisions and put more resources in places that will help your business more. The fourth step is to make the control process interactive which is to have a non stop growing attitude because your customers will change over time and if the company doesnt then it will fail. I believe that all companies need to at least think about who their primary customer is. When a product or a service is created, it is created to fill a need that isnt there now. The company then knows which group of people would benefit from this idea. This is where the resources of the company would come into place. For example, the company Bird, which has the electric powered scooters around big cities will not go to a farm town and advertise their products to that town. It isnt worth it to them and they will ultimately lose money from that. As extreme as that sounds, Bird is still picking a primary customer which is big cities. Therefore I believe that primary customers are the one of the main topics to talk about when a company is getting started because it gives that company a direction. If later on that company is very successful and thinks they can integrate into a new market with different customers then they can later on but the primary customer will still be what they target the most. A company that does a great job at selecting a primary customer is Titleist. This company makes golf clubs, golf balls, and golf apparel among other golf related accessories. This company is one of the best brands in golf. They have a ball called the Pro-V1 which is claimed to be the best ball in golf. Everyone that is a golfer knows that the Pro-V1 is the best ball in golf because that is how Titleist advertises it. Titleist is not going to take the time to run an advertisement on television during a hockey game because most of the people watching the hockey game are hockey fans. Instead Titleist will run an ad during a golf tournament to hit the golfing community. They know that people who golf are their primary customer and will not spend the resources to try and convert a hockey fan to a golf fan. Titleist does a great job getting content in front of their primary customer and knows they bring the most value to their company. Post2: The article is about defining a customer while helping companies help create a successful business model for their company. One example they show is Merck who has narrowed their customer base, but most companies are afraid of what might happen if they do the same thing. “The strategic choice of primary customer—with special emphasis on primary—defines the business.” Then the article goes into the four steps, the first step is to identify your primary customer, understand what your primary customer values, allocate resources to win, and make the control process interactive. These 4 steps can help your company be more successful with customers as well as a business. A primary customer is important to any business so it should take some consideration if the company should focus on them or not. I think when starting off smaller companies should focus on their primary customer but when they get big enough or to a point where they can expand and make decisions that go beyond the primary customer then they should focus on customers who are not their primary. Customers love a product that interests them and there will always be something new to take their attention away from a product, so it is important get to retain them and make sure they are getting everything they need from the company’s product. Dick’s has a pretty specific customer selection. They serve anyone but their main target audience is athletes. If you are about to join a sport Dicks is the first store you go to. They have every sport including golf to soccer, so it fits a lot of their customer needs and with their online store they are able to make their products more accessible for the people who are preoccupied with something else. Dicks is for every customer out there that is interested in something in sports they have great products and they also have everything you need to get started. Post 3: Choosing the Right Customer talks about how basically all companies have a customer driven strategy, but the definition of “customer” can vary from company to company. These companies are reluctant to limit themselves to one form of primary customer and they do not single out any group as a primary customer. However, the strategy of choosing one primary customer will define the business and the article goes on to a four-step process to help executives build a winning business model. The process started by identifying the primary customer, understanding what that customer values, allocating your resources to win, and finally make the control process interactive. The article advisors to make the choice of a primary customer as the landscape is cluttered with failed companies that tried to be everything to everyone. I do agree in the idea that companies should choose a primary customer and prioritize resources to serve the needs of that customer. It reminds me of the saying “try not to be like lukewarm tea”. So, if you try to appeal to everyone, you will appeal to no one. There is also the marketing 80\%-20\% rule, that says 80\% of your sales comes from just 20\% of your customers. I think that if a company can understand this, they can use their resources more optimally when dealing with clients. One brand I am familiar with is sports news such as SportsCenter on ESPN. They have multiple customers like the advertisers, athletes and televisions viewers. The primary customer there is television viewer because I think they try to appeal more to them than anyone else. I agree with their choice, as the number of viewers drives how much advertisers will pay for ad time. Also, athletes will be more inclined to agree to work with them if they know they are influencing more viewers or potential fans. That group is essential for them to continue to produce content. Rivard, J., & Obeja, H. H. (2020, May 12). The Marketing 80/20 Rule and How to Take Advantageof it. Retrieved May 26, 2020, from https://marketinginsidergroup.com/strategy/marketing-80-20-rule-take-advantage/ • post 4: Briefly summarize the article in no more than five sentences. The article focuses on how businesses define themselves by their strategic choice of customer and lays out a “customer-driven framework” with four steps. Step 1 involves identifying the best primary customer for one’s business. Step 2 establishes a process to learn what that customer values. Step 3 requires allocating resources. And, Step 4 involves building an inactive control process to monitor assumptions of one’s customer choice. • Do you agree with the notion that all companies should choose a primary customer and prioritize resources to serve the needs of the primary customer? Why or why not? I agree that most new brands today should choose a primary customer and make strategic moves to match that customer’s wants/needs. I say “most brands” because people shop to their tastes/values for most things other than essentials. So, companies that manufacture essentials are less likely to have an aggressive primary customer strategy. For example, a company that produces toilet paper does not need to develop a special customer following because everyone buys toilet paper! However, companies with more specific or catered products, for example, a clothing line or home goods brand needs to define themselves based on the buyer. Madewell is a newer brand has been successful because it has matched its products to a certain style & demographic of the population. Likewise, Pottery Barn has matched its products to a certain lifestyle/look that its specific shoppers aspire to. Brands can become giants when they start a solid following from a core-group of customers and continue to make those people happy. Companies should not focus on pleasing all people; they should focus on pleasing “their people”. • Application: Discuss the primary customer selection of a company/brand you know. One brand that has created success by identifying and catering to a primary customer profile is Trader Joe’s. Trader Joe’s was established in the 1960’s by Joe Coulombe with a distinct customer in mind. He said, “Trader Joe’s is for overeducated and underpaid people,” which was an increasing demographic as more people were getting a college degree. Essentially, TJ’s primary customer is a conscientious shopper with good taste, but on a limited budget. TJ’s has implemented strategic moves to closely monitor their customer values and match them with their business decisions. For example, their stores are about one-third to one-half the size of typical grocery chains and decorated with a quirky aesthetic to create an intimate, local-market-feel that its shopper desires. Further, Trader Joe’s is incredibly focused on the attitude and engagement of crew members at their stores. They want their customers to feel at home and valued in their store, so they only staff friendly employees that are genuinely happy to help, willing to strike up a conversation, and ready to connect with their shoppers. Next, they offer a limited selection of top-quality, unique products and alter that selection seasonally. It eliminates overwhelming amounts of product to choose from while simultaneously creating a treasure hunt effect for customers. Shopping at TJ’s gives customers a feeling of accomplishment for getting great everyday items along with truly special items. Last, TJ’s doesnt have coupons, sales, or incentive programs for shoppers because the price is always set a fair price. Customers know what to expect and feel that they are consistently getting good value. Trader Joe’s has become an amazingly successful brand because they are not trying to be all things to all people; they have a primary customer in-mind and they make strategic decisions to match that customer. Source: CNBC: Why you spend so much money at Trader Joe’s. (Mar 9, 2020) https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/09/psychology-behind-how-trader-joesbecame-a-favorite-grocery-store.html ... Purchase answer to see full attachment