Amazon.com Marketing 101

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Amazon has grown to be the king in internet retail. It has championed a marketing strategy that has helped it to become the dominant “dot com” company. Why? Because they want their customers to buy what they want without having to deal with a hassle.

The reason Amazon is so successful is because of the two fundamental pillars of its marketing strategy. The first fundamental pillar is customer satisfaction and loyalty. The CEO, Jeff Bezos, wrote in their first shareholder letter, “Start with customers, and work backwards.. Listen to customers, but don’t just listen to customers – also invent on their behalf.. Obsess over customers.” It is that philosophy upon which the entire business is rooted on. Focusing on the customers builds the kind of long – lasting relationships every company strives for. Behind this strategy is the fact that Bezos and Amazon are not focused on profits. Surprisingly when Amazon became public in 1997, Bezos was fine with operating at a loss and it wasn’t until four years later that the company even began to make some kind of profit. The company achieves their goal of long term business survival by making customer satisfaction one of its core values.

The second fundamental pillar is convenience. They market a convenient lifestyle, minimizing the time of using their service which attracts anyone from busy moms or CEOS who work 20 hours a day. One way they achieve that is One Click ordering which already has your credit card information stored as well as your address so you only have one button to click before your item is paid for and on its way to your house.

Amazon also utilizes email marketing. They take data of what you’ve looked at as well as purchased and send out personalized emails with recommendations for you based on that data. They make orders easy, deliveries fast, and constantly email with various sales and promotions. Amazon’s website is also fairly navigable and appealing in a minimalist way.

So takeaways? Quality service and customer dedication always, always goes a long way. Convenience in a world that is now so hectic and chaotic is a treasure to everyone. Make those two pillars core to your marketing strategy and it will help you out in the long time growth of your company. Relationships are the reason people – customers- care.

By: Alexandria Chong
@ach0ng

Hulu vs. Hulu Plus

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Do you often stay up at night counting sheep and wondering how you will wake up the morning after? I do. I am one of those people, who take hours to fall asleep, and I have found my remedy is to watch TV; it puts me to sleep after the movie is over. So how is this related to Hulu.com you ask? Well, I have noticed that in the past years Hulu commercials have started to become a hassle. They used to be short and infrequent which didn’t bother me, but now if I am watching a show that is forty-five minutes long, there will be a commercial every seven to nine minutes, which lasts approximately fifteen to forty-five seconds. This commercial time can build up, and is quite the hassle, and I feel that as a customer who has been religiously watching Hulu shows for a good four to five years, maybe I should be given privilege and have some of the commercials taken away. So, why are there commercials on Hulu?

The commercials on Hulu are the way the company generates profit, as it doesn’t charge for the standard Hulu free shows, for each ad they show they are paid by an advertising company or the company of the product, and all of these ads are screened and showcased to customers to whom they will appeal. This is all fine; profit must be generated in a free-market economy, except that these same commercials exist even on the Hulu Plus premium plan. Hulu Plus is a plan that the company offers to give its customers more options and availability of shows at the “low” price of $7.99 per month. However, this is not necessarily the case, there is still a limited amount of shows and movies offered, and they too have ads playing. Hulu defends its choice that the “the reason [they] include advertisements in Hulu Plus is to reduce the monthly subscription price of the service.”   In order to deliver a great service at a low price, they argue that they must include ads even in the paid-service, otherwise prices would be much higher and they wouldn’t be to afford to screen so many different genres. As someone who just watches the free Hulu shows I can’t argue much with them, however if I were to be paying for Hulu Plus and was stuck watching the same commercials over and over again, I think I would be very frustrated. I have found this to be the case by many customers’ complaints on the web.

Where will this lead for Hulu as a company? Their ads promoting their services are becoming more and prevalent which may signal to downfalls in their profits and a worrisome future for the company as a whole. If they continue to be unable to provide a good service at a low price and are outpaced by their competitors, soon all of those frustrated customers will seek to go elsewhere for online TV streaming services. 
-Kalina

Is Comedy one of the Best Forms of Branding?

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Do you remember the last advertisement you watched? How about any of the advertisements you’ve watched in the last week? The truth is that the general public no longer fully focuses on advertisements much anymore. Most people recognize advertisements as a pestering procedure during television shows and, now, on YouTube and a variety of different video posting websites. Because of this thought process, advertisers have a few seconds to capture your attention. Most people know about ethos, pathos, and logos, yet most advertisers would say that pathos is the strongest way to persuade. Pathos appeals to the viewer through his or her emotions. So what better emotion to appeal to than happiness and what better way to make you happy than through humor?

There are a few brands that people instantly recognize for their humor. Aflac and Geico may come to mind. Yet, the interesting part about comic advertisements is that the viewer usually does not care what the brand is selling but about how funny the advertisement is. Besides the gecko, Geico tries to play on funny scenarios completely unrelated to its product—car insurance. Wouldn’t brands want the masses to know all about their product? Perhaps not. Brand recognition is as if not more important than the product’s features. Geico and Aflac especially may rely more on funny advertisements because no one, honestly, cares about the idea of car insurance. If Aflac, for example, can portray the image its product as fun and hilarious, customers may very well remember the brand the next time they need car insurance..

Clearly, Geico and Aflac are not the only ones following this trend. The Superbowl is infamous for creating hillarious, well-done commericals. Although when people are asked to pick their favorite commercial, they immediately pick the funniest one. Why? Because you always remember the one that impacted you the most and that usually ends up being the funniest one in the bunch. Years ago, the introduction of the E*TRADE baby during the Superbowl created huge buzz for the company. To this day, E*TRADE continues to use the baby. Perhaps humor in the advertising world is a cycle. First there is the introduction of the hilarious commercial, which, if successful, brings huge brand recognition. From there, customers trust the product and recommend it to friends. Besides if the customer’s friends do not remember the product, it becomes the perfect moment to bring up the commercial no one can forget. That brings immediate trust right there. The next step is customer retention and reinforcement, which focuses on more money for advertisements. The end product is profit.  Does that mean humor yields profit? Looks like it. Humor is a way to differentiate your product. Maybe the marketing world needs a bunch of comedians in the business because it appears as if advertising humor to build brand recognition will withstand years to come.

And for fond memories are the following links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8JaIEXsQTo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbn-GQXYzWg

What makes you pay attention to advertisements? The quality images, the computer graphics, the music or perhaps the story

The trend these days is to utilize comedy.

-Ivana Orozco

Time to be human

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What makes people crazy about smartphone is that it is the kind of technology that doesn’t only create a better way of communication; it creates a completely new lifestyle. You are somewhere in the city that’s completely strange to you and you are looking for a restaurant to eat. In the past you could find a good one because you are lucky. Now you find a good one because you are “smartphoned”. There is no doubt that smartphone is taking over the world.

Seeing this fast growing market, there’s no way the carriers should fall behind. 3G, 4G, and now 4G LTE, all these came out in only a few years. All the carriers are competing on speed, connection, cloud services, etc. People are certainly benefiting from the progress. However, it seems that all major carriers are now facing same perception challenge: “People really love their technology but don’t love their carrier.”

Although it is AT&T is “an emotional lifestyle brand that lets you live your life more expansively and brings you new experiences and new value”, clearly there’s a gap of perception between the carrier and the consumers. Why did this happen?

AT&T, along with other big carriers, has been focusing on improving the wireless network in terms of speed, connectivity, capacity, etc. It seems to me that these carriers have sunk into an endless competition over technology. This is no bad. However these words in fact remind me of futurism, a social movement of the 20th century. It glorified speed, technology, and violence and war. It valued humanity, but only for its power to create and to destroy. They advocated technological progress so much that they ignored the importance of feelings and experiences, so is AT&T today and other carriers.

People today are not satisfied with only the high speed and all the convenience created by technology. They care more about “what can I do with it?” Smartphone has enabled infinite possibilities, yet many people haven’t seen a tip of the iceberg.

AT&T is trying to help people with their exploration, which evolves its Rethink Possible tagline it launched two years ago to focus more on human experiences.

At the Ad Age Digital Conference in New York on April 18th, Gregg Heard, VP of AT&T, presented to the audience a commercial from its new campaign that “did not tout the speed of its network or its coverage area — both tactics widely used in the carrier industry — but, rather, showed how a woman’s phone was the means to tell her entire world that she got a new acting gig”.

Also, AT&T will soon open a brand flagship store on Michigan Avenue, Chicago, that will focus more on the services they provide. “Merchandising will be more experience-focused, where there’s a larger focus on mobile apps and what you can do with handsets, organized around, for example, categories such as health care or security”.

It is time to be more human.

-Audrey Xiong

The Phenomenal Power of Digital Marketing

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Almost a month ago, an internet film named “KONY 2012” went viral. The point? Awareness. Just how good is a social media viral marketing campaign? Phenomenal.. if you get it right. The first week the video was released it received over 100 million views.Invisible Children set out with a goal to make Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, a household name. But, they’ve targeted strategically. They used a platform that resonated with the younger generation, who could then bring it up at the dinner table with their parents. They named 20 of the most influential celebrities such as Angelina Jolie, Mark Zuckerberg and Ellen Degeneres as well as 12 of the most influential policy makers such as Mitt Romney, John Kerry and Condoleezza Rice to help make a difference.The video starts out with the quote, “Nothing is more powerful than an idea.” It is abstract phrases such as that that made this video marketing such a powerful force of its own. It captured attention and was one of the most brilliant demonstrations of how to get your message heard by uprising digital media. Currently over 3.5 million people have signed the pledge to “Stop at Nothing” to help make Kony famous by watching and sharing the video.
So how to make your own successful digital marketing campaign? Be strategic and smart. Grab attention and tell a compelling story. Move people with what you are offering. Hit the pathos effect and stir an emotional calling in your viewers. Invisible Children did so by surrounding the video around co-founder Jason Russell’s son Gavin. Make it super easy for everyone to join the movement by explicitly stating a domino effect of what needs to be done. Give specific ways that anyone can help out. Last but not least, use social media; use Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram, everything you can think of.By making it compelling, emotional and comprehensive, Invisible Children was able to produce of the most ingenious viral digital marketing campaigns we’ve seen.
-Alexandria Chong

@ach0ng

Should Barnes & Noble become obsolete?

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What is a book? A dictionary describes it as a “a written or printed work of fiction or nonfiction, usually on paper fastened and bound.” As we digress with technology, this definition is constantly getting warped. A book to some is a 3 million-pixel device that has a bright screen and “lifelike” imaging. I can’t imagine a day where there are no bookstores. Browsing the new-reads and finding the perfect book is something I’ve been doing for a long time.

Barnes & Noble, the self-proclaimed world’s largest book seller, is an example of a once profitable company desperately holding on to the remains of the print world. Their stores are becoming irrelevant the more they supply online and electronic products like the Nook, an e-reader. So much of the business stemmed from printed books and media. Although the business is trying to adapt to the wave of technology, it’s inevitable that this store will fall in the future. They have many more competitors now that there is technology readily available.

Barnes & Noble isn’t just selling books; it’s selling the experience of eyes glowing as they sift through the pages of a well written novel, or as they open up a gift that reminds them of all the memories of a relationship. Books are so much more than just text on a PDF document, they are the expressions of a persons life, the stories that explain countless memories and emotions; they can send hidden messages, or help someone escape reality. If the accessibility of paper-bound literature and media was to become obsolete, then a part of our world and culture would be changed forever, however this seems to be more and more of a reality.

In our current society, the print industry is inevitably doomed. With assignments submitted on the web and more online textbooks available, we are more and more reliant on our tech gadgets. With this comes less interaction, and can eventually lead to losing touch with proper social mannerisms. Also, the way we read feels more and more mechanical.  It has become so easy for us to just do all of our work with the use of technology and internet resources, we multi-task, find what we are looking for trough the use of search-boxes, and just complete the task at hand as efficiently as possible. Although, this is great for completing simple tasks at hand, it makes us lose the ability to throw ourselves into piles of work and come to moments of grand ideas.

What would be the point of having so many things accessible online? If we had everything we could need on our tech gadgets, then we wouldn’t ever have to leave home or do anything for that matter. We could just sit in bed all day long doing our work and submitting it. We would eventually, become more mechanical and lose all human interaction. Therefore, I do not believe that Barnes & Noble should become obsolete, neither should print media and the joyful moments that getting enthralled in a good piece of literature can bring.

-Kalina

Harry Potter Stuns Amazon

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J.K. Rowling recently partnered with Amazon.com in order to provide her treasured Harry Potter saga on e-book format. The first three books, Sorcerer’s Stone, Chamber of Secrets, and Prisoner of Azkaban are $7.99 each while the Goblet of Fire, Order of Phoenix, Half Blood Prince, and Deathly Hallows are $9.99 each.

Making her books available on the format legally for the first time, Rowling went through with this extremely wisely. She not only has Amazon reroute the buyers to her Pottermore site in order to purchase them where she then gets to store all the customer and credit card information that Amazon would have had, she has also opted for DRM free e-books. The books are sold directly through her Pottermore site meaning she has the right to all of the HP customers. This is the first time that Amazon allowed something purchased on another site to be used on their devices.

DRM, short for Digital Rights Management, means that the HP e-books aren’t restricted to any format. For example, they aren’t just able to be read on the Kindle, but can be read on the Nook, tablets, smartphones, other e-readers, you name it. Each book can also be downloaded up to eight times for multiple uses.

One pitfall of the promotion is the lack of a bestseller’s list. Both Amazon and Barnes and Noble have a bestseller’s list for their e-books. The bestseller list is an amazing marketing tool because it puts the e-book’s in front of the customer’s mind and also stays there for a while because people see it and keep buying it. Since the e-books are purchased outside at the Pottermore shop, Amazon does not have that key information to publish on their homepage. Therefore, Pottermore must market the e-books to customers themselves.

Russ Grandinetti, the Vice President of Kindle Content, said, “We’re excited that Harry Potter fans world wide are not able read J.K. Rowling’s fantastic books on their Kindles and free Kindle reading apps.” Amazon definitely conceded a lot to Rowling and I’m not entirely sure Amazon had much to gain from this. It is evident that having the books was more important than the control they usually have. It’s obviously great that they are affiliated with the Harry Potter brand, which no one can deny is one of legacy, but they lost valuable control of distribution, customer information, revenue share, and various marketing tools. What do you guys think?

By: Alexandria Chong

@ach0ng

JCPenney’s New Ad Campaign

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In the past, JCPenney has commonly been viewed as a retail store that has struggled to keep up with its competitors. However, JCPenney has started to come back into the picture, with its new and improved marketing strategies. JCPenney’s new ad campaign began when Ron Johnson, former marketing director of Apple Inc., took charge. Johnson plans to completely revamp JCPenneys image by 2015 by taking some huge risks. He draws inspiration for his innovative ideas from his former boss, Steve Jobs. Product, place, price, and promotion all ring a bell, being the famous 4 P’s of marketing. All four of these are a large piece of Johnson’s new marketing strategy, but he also sees the importance of presentation and personality in order for JCPenney to be met with future success. Introducing his plans, Johnson states, “We can change a brand overnight. And we’re going to do that starting 2.1.12.”

With his optimistic attitude, Johnson started off with the alteration of the logo, to a plain red square, connecting to their “fair and square” ad campaign. “We want our pricing to be fair and square,” Johnson said. “If a woman is out of town the week of a sale, that’s not fair.” The logo is just the start of this new campaign; it also involves changes in the product lines, pricing policies, and the design of the stores. But what Johnson has made huge alterations on, are the JCPenney advertisements.

While flipping through the television channels you may have recently stumbled upon a new, JCPenney commercial. They are no longer subtle, but rather funny, colorful, and clear-cut. JCPenney’s marketing coordinators have recreated their commercials in order to be attention grabbing, easy to comprehend, as well as comedic. This past January, the company announced their partnership with the well known comedian Ellen DeGeneres. Involving DeGeneres in JCPenney commercials simply puts fun into the retail experience. Consumers will not only laugh along to the advertisements, but will hopefully easily catch onto the “fair and square” promotional events that JCPenney provides. Instead of frustrating customers with coupons, sales, and rebates, JCPenney stores will have a total of 12 promotional events each year. The goal of this new marketing strategy is to make their JCPenney shopping experience easy and fun, instead of irritating and overwhelming.

The main goal for Johnson with all of these new marketing changes is to completely alter the public image of JCPenney. It has slipped under the radar these past years, and Johnson hopes to place it high-ranked next to other retail stores by 2015. Competitors are keeping an eye on JCPenney, as taking these new marketing risks might just be worthwhile for the company’s success.

-Sandra