Semester Reflection

These four blog posts were an opportunity to explore marketing concepts and connect them to personal interests, in particular, marketing strategies acting as a catalyst for sustainability initiatives. Marketing dimensions in the material ranged from obvious displays of marketing content, to more subtle underpinnings of an involved story. In both instances, marketing was critical to the scenario. These blog posts provided a chance to use vocabulary and details that were relevant to current events. I was able to convey different marketing terminology in each post because marketing is so multifaceted. For example, in my first post I discussed the marketing mix, specifically promotion and the importance of environmental scanning. The second post discussed macro and micro economic conditions that influence customers' lifestyles and attitudes. In addition, blog post 2 was an example of consumer behavior and the purchase decision process, as well as an analysis of the target market. Blog post 3 reviewed Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and the types of consumer products. Finally, blog post 4 focused on capacity management, demand and pricing. Each post built upon the prior marketing knowledge and added new ideas while remaining different and unique from the others. This meets objective two of studying and understanding the marketing mix, target markets, consumer behavior, service marketing, social media marketing, and the strategic and financial implications of marketing decisions on the other functional areas of business. The purpose of this was to educate an audience about specific marketing ideas because the “target” for this blog may not be those who are marketing experts, but rather want to learn about how marketing is relevant to the various stories. The fact that we could develop our own brand personality and have it revolve around sharing information helped me to understand the information myself.

As I added more to my blog, I also recognized how important it is to understand the consumer’s wants and needs. For example, in blog post 1, the consumer was those looking for flights during the pandemic. In blog post 2, it was consumers considering van living as a better option for financial stability. For blog post 3, the end consumer would be businesses who would benefit from a water meter for safety. In blog post 4, the consumer is the person in the store buying seafood. While each is different, they all determine marketing actions and the strategy as well as the supply and demand.

I think that because my blog was about sustainability it is especially interesting to think about how this ties into the ethical issues confronting marketing managers. In many of the cases I talked about business leaders who were making sustainable transitions because it cut down on costs or/and it was essential to maintain their business. Sustainability is derived from the need to make ethical decisions that support humans and the environment. It was interesting to hear about what some companies are doing to meet stakeholders' needs.

The premise of the blog post assignment helped to put the material we learned into practice. The research component was crucial to be able to make connections to news stories and discover information that we had not discussed previously in class. It gave a deeper look into making personal connections to marketing that may not have been sought out otherwise.