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McDonalds and its Healthy Menu

August 11, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Ronald McDonald
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McDonalds and other fast food restaurants are starting to and have been marketing a “Healthy Menu”. But, is their new health oriented menu going to change the dynamic of the eatery. We saw McDonalds and others advertising a tasty and quick and affordable product. Now they started working the coffee scene and health scene. I think that they will soon begin to target health food as their main advertising campaigns.
After so many years of marketing fast food—The Big Mac—people already know what McDonalds has to offer in that sense. But, it is a harder sell to convince people who are health conscious to go to these places to eat. It is also very hard to convince a Starbucks customer to go to McDonalds to get a Cappuccino.
Although it is not impossible for these things to happen it will take time and money. Money is not a problem for McDonalds, the health-craze isn’t going anywhere and Coffee drinkers are definitely not changing habits. Plus, people who regularly eat at McDonalds are going to continue to eat there, they are basically loyal customers. I think McDonalds will start to target Health Conscious people, continue to target young kids and also coffee drinkers.

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QVC – Times they are a changing. . .

August 10, 2009 by Leave a Comment
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QVC and other such companies that have profited from being so innovative need to change their business models and adapt to the changing times. QVC is a very big and profitable business that started out selling products, mainly, on TV. This was pretty unique but now with the internet and the soon-to-come M-Commerce, they aren’t as unique any more.
No one in our generation wants to wait to see the product they are looking for come on TV to purchase it. QVC may profit from our parents and grandparents but unless more advertising brings us to the attention of their website and new techniques, they may not make it. I did like to see that they have a Facebook and twitter page. These mechanisms help.
I think in the time to come QVC will find a way to be innovative in these times. They are a profitable business and well established as well. They found a way to succeed before I think something creative is brewing.

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Going Green

July 14, 2009 by 6 Comments
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I was recently talking to a developer, an estimator for a General Contractor and an engineer with a utility company. We got talking about sustainability and “going green” after seeing an ad for the new 30% tax credit for certain “green” windows. In a business environment that has always and continues to require a high profit to remain in business, “going green” does not always make the most business sense. In fact, environmentally friendly issues aside, the only good “going green” does for a business is Marketing successes. Don’t get me wrong, I support environment assistance, recycling and the “going green” idea. But, it does not make business sense.
Think about a builder who buys more expensive energy star rated appliances, more expensive windows that will allow more heat in during the winter or any other more expensive product or procedure for building that would be considered “green.” When the competition buys less expensive products that are not “green” they are able to charge less for the same building or house. Whereas, the “green” builder who put more expensive “green” extras into his product, has to charge more than the non-green competition to make a profit.
The benefit of “going green” is that the company will be helping the environment which is great but might run them out of business. Everyone sees the HGTV Green Home and watches the commercials that support “Going Green” but are they willing to pay more these green products. Same as the companies that are paying more green , individuals need to pay more green too.
My question is, are there enough people out there who will pay more environmentally friendly products. With the craze of “going green” obviously some companies do. Plus, the government is supporting environment sustainability which helps defer the costs of “green” products. With these factors in mind, the companies that are “going green” are able to market their product as “green” and attract those people who are willing to pay more or willing to go through the extra government steps to purchase a “green” home or product. Still, there is always a risk that your “going green” costs won’t be profitable enough because the “green” marketing campaigns won’t attract enough people solely on the differentiation that is “going green.”

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Individuals need marketing

June 26, 2009 by 3 Comments
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Every individual is a business that needs marketing. Let’s think about the natural progression of a business person and compare it to the evolution of a expanding company. First, after high school the person needs find a college or university to attend. So, the person would research schools, find the best choice that fits his needs or wants (location, price, areas of study, etc.). Similarly, an expanding company with money to spend on branching out and expanding the company will research different options. They may choose to build up their business by branching out to new locations, acquiring another, similar business or offering new services or products. Either, way a company and an individual research chooses before progressing forward.
After researching a college, a business person (to be) picks classes that will help in his area of interest. From there, he markets himself to potential companies that are hiring interns. By interning he can learn hands-on how a company in his interest level operates. The interviewing process is all marketing, its selling your skills or qualifications. In the same way, an expanding company will choose the best way to expand and set up their operations. They make strategic plans to hire the right people at the right salaries, to establish the chain of command and locations for business that will help generate the most profit. During this time, business partners or other individuals in the decision making roles will argue and sell or market their points to get what they want or what they think the best decision for the company would be.

When a college student graduates, he again has to market himself to a company to work for. He needs to market himself while he has a job to keep it or move up the chain. He must prove that he is valuable to the company. And a business must use marketing and sales to attract customers and gain profit.

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Technology opens up for marketing makes things so much more efficient.

June 24, 2009 by 2 Comments
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Technology is always changing and the new opportunities that technology opens up for marketing makes things so much more efficient. Even for small business, utilizing technology leads to a greater profit margin from more and more exposure. The only problem with this new form of marketing is that it could sometimes become annoying.
Think about Facebook, the new craze for young people. Facebook now allows advertising. Companies pay for ads that are relatively cheap and the ads lead right to a website. They pay-per-click and bid against others targeting their same demographic. Imagine a company being able to reach their target market by clicking through Facebook Ad Manager for five minutes, writing 100 characters in a text box and connecting the picture they choose for the ad to their website. Next thing you know, the ad is targeting females in Philadelphia, between the ages of 18-25.
This example is not annoying but when companies create facebook pages for free to advertise this might be annoying. Similarly, twitter pages are taken very seriously by some bloggers. Even though only 10% of bloggers account for 90% of the blogging, advertising on twitter for free could annoy them. Text blasts and are also becoming popular and mass e-mails sent from all sorts of Spam Centers annoy the inboxes of most people with e-mail addresses. How effective are those mass e-mails for how annoying they are and will they turn into what telemarketing became.

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