Starbucks: Premium Quality Coffee

Starbucks is one of the first companies that come to mind when I think of successful product positioning. For those of you who don’t know, product positioning is a marketing technique which involves creating a unique, consistent, and recognized customer perception about a firm’s offering and image. In other words, it involves creating and maintaining a certain concept of a product in the customer’s eyes. However, before creating the product position the company must determine the market segment they want to target their product or service to. In this case, Starbucks decided to mainly target office workers with middle to high incomes and in turn the company provides premium products with a place people can go between work and home and relax gather and socialize. Within the walls of Starbucks you can find comfortable furniture and tables and they serve multiple different coffee drinks and pastries that are associated with a high price to show their high quality. This is how Starbucks wanted its products and services to be perceived. Starbucks maintains a premium quality image by carefully monitoring each and every step of coffee production. They buy dark-roast whole bean coffee from countries like Costa Rica, Sumatra, and Kenya and then roast the coffee beans in their own plants and sell them only through company-owned stores. Starbucks also provides excellent service and they are always making sure customers are more than satisfied. 

What is the first company that comes to mind when you think of product positioning? How does the company create a unique and consistent customer perception of their product or service?

In Response to Danielle’s Post

What do you think of brands advertising on campus, through student ambassadors or sponsored activities? Should colleges allow this sort of thing, or should campuses be kept as ad-free as possible?

In my opinion what American Eagle and Target did at the University of North Carolina was a very smart marketing tactic. I think all companies whose target market consists of college students should consider implementing this type of advertising into their marketing plan. I agree with Danielle that college students don’t want to be advertised to and when it comes to seeing ads their focus is mainly on whether the advertisement is “cool” or not. However, I think through student ambassadors and sponsored activities, companies can reach their target market of students in the most effective way. Many college students try to keep up with the latest trends and they influence each other’s styles so they are more likely going to listen to their peers rather than adult marketers. I think colleges should allow this type of marketing and I don’t see any harm in these marketing practices. However, I do think that colleges need to put a limit on how many companies can use their campuses for advertising their brands because it could become very distracting for students if their campus becomes a huge marketing central. 

What other on campus tactics so you think companies could use to market their products effectively towards college students?

Marketing in a Consumer Market vs. Business Market

Markets fall into two categories: consumer markets and business markets. A consumer market consists of purchasers and household members who intend to consume or benefit from the purchased products and they do not buy products to make profits. Business markets consist of individuals or groups that purchase a specific kind of product for resale, direct use in producing other products, or use in general daily operations. One can imagine the marketing strategies for these two markets have to be different since the needs, wants and buying procedures are different for the markets. Generally business markets are more likely to be price driven and consumer markets are more brand driven. Therefore, a company selling to another business may want to focus more on promoting why what they have to offer is worth the price, and have the price be the focus of their advertising. Whereas a company selling to a consumer may want to focus more on promoting their brand name, making it the focus of their advertisements. Also, for consumer markets the customer is usually very distant from the manufacturer/company making the product therefore businesses in consumer markets need to use mass communication and distribution tools to market their products/services. In business markets on the other hand, the customer is much closer and the manufacturer has a lot more knowledge of the customer and may market through personal selling techniques rather than mass communication. 

Do you think companies in a consumer market spend more money on marketing than companies in a business market?

Best Cities For Marketing Jobs...

            Have you ever thought about where the best places in the United States are to find a marketing job? Recently I was thinking about if I were to get a job in marketing, where should I go? According to an article found on Forbes.com, New York City seems to offer the most marketing positions for unemployed marketing professionals. Employers in the New York metro area are looking to fill 2,478 marketing positions across a range of industries. New York is a major hot spot for the media and advertising industries which have been experiencing a major increase in marketing opportunities in media and digital marketing. Employers throughout New York especially want marketers who possess new skills in search engine marketing and emerging media and these marketers will have greater opportunities. Also, the west coast is providing many marketing opportunities as well. San Jose employers are looking to fill 1,278 marketing positions, putting this city in the No. 2 spot and trailing right behind is San Francisco, with 1,266 job openings.

Would you like to have a career in marketing one day? If so, where do you think you will move in order to obtain a marketing position?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2011/07/13/the-best-cities-for-marketing-jobs/

In response to Kathleen Johnson...

Should John smith sell the names? (Be sure to answer the poll to the left of this post.) Also, Does the AMA Statement of Ethics address this issue? Go to the AMA website (American Marketing Association) and look at their Statement of Ethics. What in the Statement relates to John Smith's dilemma?

According to the AMA's Statement of Ethics on their website, under "fairness" it states, "Avoid knowing participation in conflicts of interest. Seek to protect the private information of customers, employees and partners." If John Smith were to sell the names and phone numbers of people saying they would likely buy a new car then he would be going against the AMA's statement of ethics. This action would be unethical and it could hurt his companies reputation if he were to go through with it. If John Smith's marketing research firm is already on the verge of going bankrupt, I think performing an action like this would just end up hurting the company even more and they would be even more likely to go bankrupt since no one would want to hire them knowing they are an unethical company and they would lose all business.

Can you think of a company that has gone through with an unethical action and later ended up bankrupt?

Have you heard of LinkedIn?

Recently I was introduced to a social networking website called LinkedIn and I think it is very important for anyone working in the business field to know about it. LinkedIn has become one of the fastest growing social networking sites in the world. It is not as big as its competitors Facebook and Twitter are; however, it has an advantage by being unique and catering to business professionals. LinkedIn is basically the Facebook of business. LinkedIn is a site where you can keep a professional profile of yourself and you can stay in touch with past and present colleagues and classmates by having the ability to find them quickly. On LinkedIn you can look for career opportunities, win new clients, and even build your professional reputation. The site connects you to jobs, sales leads and ideal business partners. In 2010 the number of people searches on LinkedIn was 2 billion and the site has over 120 million members and counting. This goes to show you that many people in the business world are using it. LinkedIn is a great place to market yourself and if you don't have a LinkedIn account already, you should consider creating one.

Do you have a LinkedIn account? If you do, what opportunities have you gained from it? If you do not have a LinkedIn account, are you going to consider getting one and what do you hope to gain from it?

http://learn.linkedin.com/what-is-linkedin/

In response to Rebecca...

What companies can you think of that need to improve their ethical standards?

Few people may know that behind the smiles of Ronald McDonald and Happy Meals, lays a company with many unethical practices. Not only does McDonalds sell products that contribute to heart disease and the high obesity rate, but a typical fast food hamburger patty can contain meat from more than 1000 different cattle. McDonalds has a negative impact on the environment because this corporation is destroying natural rainforests by purchasing meat from privatized farms that raise these cattle on land that was once a rainforest. Not only does McDonalds treat the environment poorly, but they also treat their employees poorly. McDonald’s employees are underpaid for the amount of time they work and this goes into illegal amounts of labor hours. Many employees also have to work in unsanitary conditions. Also in 2006, 15 McDonalds across Japan had an apple pie recall due to the use of an illegal food coloring agent and in June the same year a woman in Southlake, Texas found a rat in her salad and McDonald’s didn’t even apologize! Clearly McDonald’s has many problems with their ethical standards and these need to be improved if McDonald’s wants a better reputation.

Can you think of a company that has gone out of business due to unethical practices?