End of Semester Thoughts

With finals rapidly approaching, I thought it would be prudent to give some final thoughts regarding this semester and how this marketing course has changed my views of things. Looking back on this semester, which has gone by very quickly, I realize how wrong I was about the whole subject of marketing. I originally thought it was a simple concept, easily explained by the 4 p's: price, product, promotion, place. I was so, so wrong about marketing. Marketing is not all about getting consumers to purchase a product using advertisements, even though that is a big part of the subject, but relies heavily on creating value that will in turn lead to a relationship with consumers. Developing a relationship with consumers is paramount in marketing because there is nothing more profitable than creating positive customer relationships. Such relationships will result in not only their business, but their friend's and relative's business as they spread the word about how your product is worth the purchase. I have learned that creating value for customers is the bane of marketing's existence because it allows for the rest of the marketing mix to be useful. With value there is no consumer and in turn there is no profit. 

Taking a marketing course has also opened my eyes to the schemes of marketers through various forms of media. I will never be able to watch a television program again without thinking to myself, "who are they trying to target with this ad?", or "why would they choose to air that advertisement during this show?". My days of watching television like any other person not schooled in the ways of marketing. Even though I have always had a vague idea that advertisements were aired on certain channels purposely, I never fully realized that a lot of money was invested into that ad spot. Marketing is a huge industry that generates and invests millions of dollars for companies. This was a fact that I was not aware of before this course. I did know that marketing was an investment but I did not know the analytics that played such a key role in creating a marketing strategy. Going into the course I did not expect to be using excel as often as we did to compare profitability as well as organize data to make it more easily readable. 

No matter what I do in my life, the things I have learned in marketing are for sure going to follow me and continue to help me understand how businesses work. There is no secret that businesses rely on their marketing teams to capture market share and bring an increase of profitability to the company. The better marketing team a company has, the more capital the company will be able to invest in themselves and other business endeavors. As this blog comes to a close I would be remiss not to mention the value of the NewShoes simulation, which gave a realistic look of how a marketing team interacts with different markets and costs of marketing. The simulation was very helpful and I would not have taken as much out of this course without completing the simulation.