reply to classmate to agree--just tell us all why you agree and back it up with some evidence

Before beginning this class, I had expected marketing to be an elaborate course on advertising and how to essentially Jedi mind trick customers into wanting products they only slightly need. While this in a sense is one part of the course, after reading the first 3 chapters, I realize there is much more to the application of marketing, and that it represents a more complex relationship between company and consumer. After reading the first unit, I discussed with family members what I've learned about marketing, and when I explained the framework (5Cs, STP, 4Ps) along with the ethical viewpoints marketers can view their approach from, it became more clear to them that marketing is, now more than ever, more customer oriented than one may think.

An industry that I as a consumer interact with regularly is clothing, specifically men's shirts. A problem I noticed I encounter as well as other men is inconsistent or poor fitting shirts, made of poorly mixed fabrics and inconsistent or odd fits. Form fitting shirts often are too short in length, making the shirt expose a large portion of mid riff when the wearer's arms are lifted anywhere near or above shoulder height, and when the customer purchases a larger size to compensate for the high cut, the shirt doesn't increase in length. Rather, it simply gets wider shoulders and width, giving a baggy and unflattering appearance. A change I would suggest for a new clothing brand that focuses on men's clothing is to make the shirts from a softer, less shrinking material with a slightly lower cut that falls about 3 inches below average basic shirt cuts. This allows men to wear a more form fitting, less irritating shirt that will not show off their bellies whenever they lift their arms any higher than their mid-torso.

I would go about convincing my friend first of the importance of marketing. I would familiarize her with the 5Cs, and the importance of recognizing who her business will impact the most. Who are her customers, what do they seek and why? What are the strengths of her company, and who might that attract? How might the industry or customer attitude change that could have a significant impact on her business? Who can she collaborate with to strengthen her sales, and who is competing against her business and remaining successful? Should she want to expand her customer base, considering a new ad campaign or even new product line that utilizes what makes her competitors unique could swing new customers away from her competition. Then, I'd perform a situation analysis with her to get an idea of where her business stands in the current market, and what could change and what her business should continue doing. Finally, I'd have her consider what it is that her current customers like most about her business, and discuss the demographics of her customers. There may be multiple types of consumers in her base, but it's important to recognize what unifies them all under her brand, and then focus on placement of marketing to find each of those groups in their secondary interests. Say for example she has many customers who are in two distinct age groups, so engaging the two groups through the separate forms of media each demographic is likely to consume would be a wise decision.