A Little More Personal

This week one of the main topics we focused on was consumers, and how marketers determine which consumers they choose to target. Not very long ago, marketers had to choose certain groups and market strictly to them. While marketers still do that and probably always will, modern technological advances have allowed them to do something that was unimaginable just a few years ago. Now, marketers can, in a sense, market to individuals. 

Anyone who uses the internet, whether that is reading blogs, using search engines, or even browsing Pinterest, has probably experienced the "personalized ads" that pop up on the sides of the screen. They advertise flights and hotels for destinations recently searched, or products that may be relevant to what you've been researching lately. But does anyone even pay them any attention?

Personally, those ads serve as more of an annoyance to me than a helpful reminder to buy a certain product. However, they must be doing some good, because companies continue to put the money, time, and effort into creating and using the software that learns what we like, and shows it to us over and over again. Our textbook mentioned the next step in this type of advertising, such as facial recognition, and billboards flashing advertisements as we walk by them. That just makes me wonder...20 years from now, what will our technological advances have done for marketing and consuming?

Marketing, And Why I Love It.

Well, here we are...my very first blog post. Because this blog focuses on marketing, I thought I would start out by explaining why I've chosen to pursue this crazy career.

1. I love being creative. In fact, I try to incorporate creativity into my daily life as much as possible. Whether that is through creative writing, design, or just cooking up a new recipe, life is so much more exciting when we create! And people are drawn to it! Isn't that why we love Beethoven, Van Gogh, Dickens, even Steve Jobs? I believe that marketing is a great outlet for this type of innovation and originality. We get to craft society's perceptions of brands and products, even people, from the ground up!
2. The amazing science behind marketing. There is a reason you choose one "old fashioned, reduced fat, sea salt, all natural popcorn" over the other, even if you don't realize it. It's the marketing, and it's all around us. Grocery stores place products strategically throughout the store, fast food restaurants use specific colors to make us hungrier, casinos even use carpets that draw people into gambling longer. Most of us never even realize all of the subliminal marketing that happens to us every day, but some of us are lucky enough to be on the opposite end of it.
3. Marketing is important. It will always be needed. It will never go out of style. No, it's not saving lives or putting a man on the moon, but even hospitals and astronauts have a sort of brand that can either draw people in or drive them away. From the earliest magazine ad, to the latest, most advanced interactive ad we see while browsing the internet, marketing plays a huge role in our lives.

Of course, I could probably think of a hundred more reasons why I am passionate about marketing, but for now, these are my top three!