Marketing Yourself

Self Marketing

If you are a college student or unemployed you should become a sales person and learn how to sell yourself. There are many ways to approach this. I think that expanding your self online is the best way. You should become more active with social media like Twitter and Facebook (in a professional manner) as well as LinkedIn. Having these accounts allows you to network with people and express yourself. Keep in mind that the reason you are doing this is to attract potential employers.

In addition to Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn another great idea is to maintain a blog and develop a fan-base (followers and subscribers.) This shows potential employers your style of writing as well as your personal and professional interests.

The last thing, and I believe this to be the most important, is having your own personal website. Your website should be yourName - .com, .net, .me, etc. You should include pages like "About", "Resume", "Course Work", "Activities", "Contact", and links to your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and blog(s). You do not necessarily even need the basic knowledge of HTML and CSS, Wordpress, or Drupal to make a website. There are many websites that allow you to visually build your website as opposed to writing it with HTML and other languages. It is similar to a template you and just insert images and content. The next step would be purchasing a domain name and web hosting. The most popular place to do this is GoDaddy.com. After your website goes live, you can include the URL in your resume.

With these few things you can get yourself out there and attract more employers.

What are some other ways you can market yourself? Do you have a personal website? If so, what kinds of things do you include?

Response to Kaley DeBoer

Do you agree this commercial is beneficial for the product it is promoting, or is it stretching too far away from it's original product usage?

I think that this Sears commercial is great. Kaley had a great point that it really sucks in movie people since it is set up to seem like it's a movie trailer. I definitely grabs your attention. Like I had mentioned in my previous post on April Fools Day products, these types of commercials target people with a sense of humor. This commercial is silly because a) it tricks you into thinkings it's a movie trailer and b) the two people run into a refrigerator. It may not make people go out and buy a refrigerator when they see the commercial (similar to another commercial where the people run into a refrigerator on the beach) but when they are in the market for a refrigerator or other kitchen appliance, Sears may come to mind when deciding where to shop for the appliance. It is definitely one of those commercials that will just lurk in the back of your mind until you are in the need of the product or see it in the store. 

What is your opinion on commercials like this that are misleading but end up being humorous in the end? Can you think of another commercial that has a similar approach?

Kaley's post can be found here.

April Fools Day Advertisements

Are these April Fools Day Ads working in the brands' favor?

With April Fools Day right around the corner, everyone is planning pranks for their friends and family. Now some companies are even getting in the spirit! P&G's Scope mouthwash brand is releasing a "new" mouthwash flavors...bacon - "For breath that sizzles." It is clearly an April Fools joke and everyone knows it. There has been much talk about Scope's bacon flavored mouthwash and whenever the press asks Scope about it, they refuse to comment until April 1st at 8PM.

Another brand doing an April Fools campaign is American Eagle. Their commercial is saying they are offering "Skinny Skinny" jeans for a limited time only. These jeans are supposedly the most comfortable piece of clothing and feels like you aren't even wearing anything. The commercial is very silly just like the bacon mouthwash commercial.

I think these silly commercials are somewhat helping their sales. Though it may not make people go out and buy their real products, the thought of the brand will lurk in the back of consumers' minds and they will recall a funny commercial when they see the store in the mall or the brand on the shelf. I also think it agrees well with people that have a sense of humor, or else they'd hate the commercials and think the brand is weird. I think mostly younger generations will see these commercials as humorous.

What is your opinion on these April Fools Day products? Are they helping the brands? Why or why not?

Response to Ashley Borjeson

Consumer Purchasing Decisions

What are the biggest influences on consumer buying decisions in your opinion?

I definitely agree with Ashley that cultural reasons are the biggest influences to make a purchase. If it the the trendy thing to have right now, like iPhones and other smartphones, chances are you'll really want one too. 

I think another strong influence on purchasing decisions is the consumers current emotion. I know a lot of women that like to go shopping when they're feeling down because buying things makes them happy so they are more likely to buy something if they are sad or in a bad mood in order to cheer themselves up. However I also know a lot of women that like to go shopping when they are in a good mood and go a little over board because they're so happy and have no worries. So basically no matter what kind of mood the target market is in, chances are good that someone will be buying something. I am not either of these kinds of shoppers, I am a poor college student so really my shopping patterns depend on the amount of money I have and what expenses I need to pay. This is another influence on purchasing decisions. 

People often want to buy things buy aren't able to afford them. However, if it is something that they really want but can't afford at the moment, many people will safe up to make the purchase at a later date. So maybe a company isn't making as many sales right now, but maybe once tax returns are received there will be a spike in sales.

What do you think are the strongest influences on consumers to NOT buy something?

Ashley's post can be found here.

Brand Recognition

Brand Recognition

Brand recognition is when the general public or targeted market can easy recognize a brand by something other than the name, such as logos, slogans, and colors. There are so many top brands that people can easily spot just by their logos, even when the name isn't in the logo. There are even games you can play on smartphones that the sole purpose of the game is the name the brand or company of that logo. When the actual logo is the word, typically all the letters are missing except one... but it's still very easy to tell what brand it is. See the image below if you aren't familiar with such games.

People are much more aware of brands and logos and slogans because of how much advertising we are exposed to. Jay Walker-Smith, the president of the marketing firm, Yankelovich, states that the average person in the 1970s would be exposed to about 500 ads per day whereas the average person in 2009 was exposed to about 5,000 ads per day. Imagine how much it must have increased over the last few years... It's no wonder that people play these kinds of smartphone games with ease!

Take a look at the image to the left. Chances are pretty good that you know what company that is, and it's not even it's logo exactly. If for some reason you didn't catch it, it's Google. Each individual "letter" is a logo for their different features. For example, Google Docs and Gmail are the first two "letters." Each logo is also the same color as the letter in Google's logo.



What is you opinion on brand recognition and how many advertisements we are exposed to? Are there other factors that may contribute to brand recognition?


Don't have a smartphone but want to play a logo game? Try Sporcle's corporate logo game, don't worry there's more than one.