Final Post Reflection

For this find blog post, I will be giving a reflection on all that I have learned throughout my time in my marketing course. To do so, I will tie together my class experiences, blog posts, projects and assignments with our objectives listed in our syllabus.

Objective 1: To examine and convey basic and emerging marketing concepts and terminologies.
Throughout my various blog posts and topics, I have touched on many different basic and emerging marketing concepts and terminologies. For example in my first post I talked about the 4 P's of marketing (product, price, place, promotion) and applied those concepts to a new accessory line called Neely and Chloe. In my fourth blog post I used terms like e-commerce and talked about how online subscription services would be a great way to compete with the traditional idea of e-commerce (the buying and selling of goods online).

Objective 2: To study and understand 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 businesses.
There were various ways that I covered all of these terms throughout the course. For example, there were many different times where we discussed different target markets and talked about how different products and services target different markets. For example in the Marketing for a Cause project, we had to determine who our target market would be when trying to get people to go to our fundraising event. Because we hosted our event at a Saint Mike's basketball game, we determined that the best target market would be Saint Mike's students. We also had many different discussions in class and talked about how many different businesses consider these factors. Two that we spoke about a lot were Amazon and Zappo's. Amazon does a great job of combining the process of marketing services and products, the products people buy and how quickly they deliver them. Another company who does this combination well too is Zappo's.

Objective 4: To explore ethical issues confronting marketing managers.
We have touched on the area of ethical issues marketing managers may face in class and I have also read about it on a peer's blog. There was one type of marketing called shock marketing. This is where marketers show images that may scare the viewer out of consuming something or doing something. An example that I read was the government uses shock marketing to avoid underage drinking/binge drinking.

Objective 5: To have the opportunity to put marketing into action via team and individual projects, research, reports and presentations.
Our marketing for a cause project allowed me and my group members the perfect opportunity to put our marketing skills into action. We had to first plan a fundraising event, decide our target audience, market our event to that audience and raise money for our chosen charity. My group was able to develop the idea of a knockout tournament, and we decided that our target market was the Saint Michael's community. Our best way of marketing to our target audience was through word of mouth marketing and hanging flyers around campus. We were able through our event to raise over $200 dollars for Camp Ta-kum-ta.

Objective 6: To set personal and professional goals and positively contribute to an engaged class.
While enrolled in this class, I have made a personal goal to always complete the readings the day before class and to have a set of notes that I can bring to class. Not only does having notes allow me to do better on the quizzes, but it also allows me to better follow along with lectures, answer questions and stay engaged in class discussions.

Subscription Services

What it is:
As technology and innovation help to improve and involve all area's of our day to day lives, we as consumers are always looking for new and innovative ways to make our own lives easier. Most consumers don't want to waste their time, money or sacrifice quality when they are looking for the best new products. Subscription services have become a growing market that gives customers exactly what they want, at a reasonable price without having to leave their house or worry about forgetting to place an order. A popular example of of well known subscription company thats popular among beauty bloggers is Birch Box.


The subscription structure is an innovative way of modifying the idea of e-commerce. Because sure we can all go online and order something off Amazon, but with the hectic demands of day to day life sometimes we forget to make those orders. These new subscription services take that stress away by offering different products, prepaying them to a credit card or payment service that they keep on file and deliver the bundles right to your door each month hassle free.

Companies to watch:
The first new company that has been making a name for itself in the subscription service industry is a contact lens company named Hubble. This company aims to sell affordable daily use contacts at an affordable price. They look to add convince of never having to forget your contact prescription and aim to provide quality contacts without breaking the bank. A monthly subscription costs $30, and a yearly subscription costs $264. All wrapped up in colorful and eye-catching packaging, that you'll now be able to enjoy the sight of with your new contacts.


Another innovative subscription company who has stormed the market is a company called Daily Harvest, where they aim to sell healthy prepackaged shake mixes that contain fresh fruits, leafy greens in easy to go containers. They are targeting the growing market of consumers who are becoming more health conscious and want to combine their desire to lead a healthier lifestyle in the fast pace of their daily lives. Created by a busy working mom, these drink mixes come in fourteen different flavoring options all including different health features like antioxidant-rich formulas, to plant based recipes and even recipes with caffeine in them to become a healthy replacement option to the typical morning coffee. After finding much success in their drink line, Daily Harvest is looking to expand their product line to include another product- instant soups. They look to use only organic produce in this new product.

The point of starting companies like the ones talked about above it to give people easier, more affordable ways of getting the products they desire without making time consuming trips to brick and mortar stores or forgetting to place your order online. These subscription based companies, although they may only be targeting a niche market by offering few specific products, seem as though they will be successful in competing with traditional online buying outlets and brick and mortar stores. This marketing strategy is smart to appeal to the busy, harding working, fast pace american life.