Blog Post 7

Today I am going to rant about something related to customer insights. Or rather something related to the lack of customer insights. What is one of the most annoying things that marketers do to get your attention? I am sure you can think of many, but the first thing that came to my mind was mailing out circulars to people. You know what I am talking about. You go to check your mailbox. A couple of bills, maybe a note from Mom or Dad, and three circulars! One from Best Buy, one from Mr. Gatti’s, and one from a collection of stores. And as we approach the holiday season, you can only expect circulars such as these to come more frequently. Why? Don’t they know that they are basically saying, “Here, take this, and please throw it out for me.” Because that is exactly what I do.

So why do companies send these out? Well usually they are filled with so-called deals, great savings, and new product information. Best Buy’s circular often promotes the best deal on a television, the hottest new DVD, and an assortment of other things they want you to buy for Christmas. I used to work for a record label, and I saw first hand how companies will pay lots of money just to have their latest CD prominently featured in such circulars. How many CDs sell as a result? No one could tell you. It is true that any exposure is good exposure, but don’t you think that the cost outweighs the benefit?

Most circulars are year round. I can’t tell you how often I get a Steinmart or Old Navy one in the mail. I have never shopped at Steinmart, and couldn’t tell you where one is around Austin. The last time I shopped at Old Navy had to be Junior year of high school. So why me? I think the truth is many of these circulars are sent out based on a randomly selected address database. It is easy for companies to get their slimy hands on addresses and names. A simple computer program can slap John Doe’s name on a circular, with his address below, and have their advertisements out in a matter of a couple days. As a result, you get some of the least personalized advertising ever. Worse, once you have it, you must do something with it. Billboards, commercials, in store promotions – these are all things that can be ignored. But circulars become your problem when you receive on in the mailbox. And with the new green trends, you have to guess that this has an effect on the environment.

I haven’t read a circular since last holiday season when visiting my family in Houston. Holiday season may be the only appropriate time for such marketing techniques, since many people are looking or deals on things they can buy for a large and diverse group of family and friends. But even then, I still only am interested in a very limited amount of circulars I actually receive. So what needs to change? The easy answer is stop. But this will never happen, because as long as one company is doing it, every other one will feel the need to in order to stay competitive (see political campaigns: robo-calls). It is common knowledge people hate to receive this stuff. But it happens regardless.

A better solution may be to customize such circulars. Why should Steinmart spend money on advertising to me? They shouldn’t. In this age of information, when companies have huge databases of purchases based on credit card transactions, don’t we all have individual buyers’ profiles? So use it! Why not create a variety of circulars based on different interests. Let’s say Best Buy looks at my transaction history and sees that I purchase a lot of music. They also notice a video game here and there, with some television accessories. So they could group me in a category that shares similar purchases, and send me a circular that focuses on my customer needs and interests. If I see the cover of a Best Buy ad that shows the latest version of Rock Band on the cover, I may glance through it. But if you send that same ad to a childless middle aged couple, they would probably throw it away. Change the image to a big screen TV, with all sorts of bells and whistles, and maybe you hold their interest.

Wal-mart is a prime example of a company who could use a more personalized circular. No other company has as much information about their customers as Wal-mart. And because they offer such a diverse range of products, why not cater to customer interests in the circular. On the cover page, envision a headline, “John’s Personal Wish List – Catered to Your Needs.” That might strike a consumers interest more than “Check out ALL of our great deals!”

Obviously the more types of circulars you print, the more expensive it becomes. So companies would need to find a balance between offering a diverse grouping of similar interests among customers and keeping cost efficient. But I think that if some money is spent gaining insights about customers, a personalized form of circulars may have greater effects on purchasing.

Blog Post 6

Everyone has an opinion. This is the beauty of blogging. For those of you reading this blog, you are trusting that my opinion has some value. At times, I would agree with you, but since you are here, I will talk to you today about something other than my opinion. Instead, let’s look at the opinion of other bloggers, just like me. Well not really just like me, because these bloggers are sponsored, making money, “experts,” etc. But just for pretend…

In order to better understand my topic for my future paper (one dealing with the music industry and marketing to consumers in such), I will use the opinions of other blogs to gain some perspective. The first blog is known as the Digital Music Weblog. This blog actually no longer is active, but the archives are available and great sources of information. After browsing around for a bit, I picked up on a few things. One post discusses the mistakes of labels past. A specific example comes in Paris Hilton. Her record company (Warner) made a huge mistake in promoting Paris Hilton’s record. The label was banking on the celebrity’s name to sell records, and the nightmare that ensued ended up hurting business far more then helping. The celebrity (I would never say artist in talking about Paris) only pushed 13,000 copies of her album over counters. A pathetic attempt at best, this shows the disconnect between labels and fans. Who really wanted to hear if Paris could sing? Not I. And thus, I didn’t buy. Conclusion – don’t waste money on cheap Hollywood celebrity tricks. Wait, did I just say cheap?

Quite the opposite. In fact, because Warner felt so strongly about Paris’ ability to sell records, they gave her very little in terms of restrictions as an agent of Warner. The expense of promoting her record included the label paying for the transportation of her entourage, totaling over $300,000 for a hotel bill. Hmmm, when an artist makes about 9.8 cents per song sold, how does one break even on a deal like this? Can you think of a better place $300,000 might have been spent for Warner? How about investing in marketing real music to consumers; music that people actually want to buy. This is the opinion of one such blog article found on the Digital Music Weblog.

Future of Music is another blog giving opinions on the Music industry. In this blog, the most recent article discusses the past, present, and future of the music industry. Some interesting insights include the cycles of the business, the artists themselves, Elvis, the Beatles, etc, etc, etc. One of the more interesting paragraphs I found was about the new business model. Or rather, the new artist model. They discuss how the music business historically has never given power to the artist. 95% of all artists were never fairly compensated for their work. That is scary, considering consumers direct connection is with the artist, not the labels. Luckily, according to this blog, this is changing. The new business model puts power in hand of the artist. Whereas merchandise was the sure way to make money for artists without help of a label, nowadays the artist sits at the center of possibility in controlling their career. Creative and business control has strengthened the relationship of the artist to the consumer. As we begin to better understand this relationship, we move towards a more efficient marketing plan.

There are far too many music blogs out there to list. The truth is, everyone has an opinion about it, but no one knows who is right. Using blogs as another tool to gain customer insights for the music industry bodes well, as you can never have enough perspectives. I look forward to learning more through others’ eyes.

Blog Post 5

If the world worked exactly how I wanted…

Well, not that I can expect for it ever to. But if it did, how would I connect with my friends? What feelings and thoughts would I want? How might the perfect world look when hanging out with friends? The image collage pictured here shows the answer to these questions. The phrases, word associations, images, and symbols all have some sort of deeper meaning to me, which show how my perfect time with friends would be.

To start, instead of using a poster board for the collage, I took two vinyl records and their inserts to make the backdrop. The two records come from Paul McCartney’s Wings group. I chose this particular group to be featured because of the nature of the group. The core trio, Paul-Denny-Linda, were a group of friends who loved working together and sharing creative output. The collaborative nature of the group represents to me the collaborative connections I desire with my friends. I enjoy sharing and learning from other people. This desire for collaboration is exemplified by the picture of Jack White helping a child to sing. Here, you see two people working together and enjoying themselves.

The cover of one of the albums features the band gazing out of a window into outer space, looking back at the Earth. I like this because it reminds me of how I like for my friends to be analytical, contemplative, and interested in things of beauty, nature, mystery, and more. I like interacting with people to just think about things from a new perspective, just like the band seems to be doing. Another album cover shows the band in London. Connecting with friends is about doing new things together. I personally have never been to London, so traveling there is a new idea to me.

I find many connections with friends through music. Music is featured in many aspects of my collage. Besides the albums themselves, you see a band playing, the word “Music,” “Find Groove,” and “Dance Fever.” All of these represent how music brings me together and closer to my friends.

There is nothing like having a good time with your closest friends. My collage features groups of people enjoying themselves and each other, the words “Celebrates” and “Have Fun Out There.” I have an appetite along with my friends for experiencing the world. In a perfect world, I could “indulge” in fun, new things, music, art, people, places, and much more with my friends whenever I wanted to. “Adventure” is something I look forward to experiencing together with friends. And there is nothing like a group of “joke folks” to cheer you up. Notice the Patron, or the Jack and Coke? I won’t lie, I love having a couple of drinks and catching up with old buddies.
When I am on a beach, I feel relaxed and at peace. The picture on the beach symbolizes the relaxed feeling I desire when connecting with friends. I want to be comfortable and in a perfect world, I would always feel relaxed when spending time with friends. The man sitting at a sound board in the collage seems relaxed, and around a sound board, feels free to create whatever he wants. This is how I want to feel when connecting with friends. We have the world in front of us, and can make what we want of it.

Most importantly, connecting with friends is about being there for each other. We have a since of “purpose,” we are “humbly welcome” to each other, and have a sense of “purpose” for all that we do. The big eyeball represents how we keep an eye out for each other, and can count on that. “Quality time” is the best time. In a perfect world, “time” would not be an issue. We could make things out of nothing, such as the record player made of empty Red Bull cans. And we spend our lives connecting dots with each other, from point A to point B, represented by the dot connector puzzle in the collage. The lyrics shown from one of the Wings album inserts signifies the deeper meaning of our connections. And just like in the television show, I want to feel like my group of friends is its own “entourage.” We stick together, through thick and thin.

These are the feelings, thoughts, and expectations I have from spending time with my friends.