In the lecture this week, we learned that not all methods of marketing works for every product. For instance, there won't be a television advertisement for some medical devices, or software programs. Name one or two products that you know of that you have not seen on a television advertisement, and describe what marketing method was used to advertise it.
One trend to be aware of on these forums is the asking of questions to the class and not giving your own answer or opinion on the matter. That is not something that takes thought or substantive construction of ideas. I do like the thought-provoking questions, but also want to see the thought that follows....from the people who reply AND the author of the original question.
Spiral Medical Development
www.spiralmeddev.com
One product that is very popular today are GoPro cameras. They do not use television to advertise their product but instead they have used youtube. However, they did not directly advertise their product but instead you see people using the GoPros and creating really clear videos. From this, it made people ask questions, and it ended up gaining popularity through the people. GoPro used an approach where they trusted in their product, and the people to advertise through viral marketing.
While some products hold firm to the traditional television commercials, there are a great deal that are utilizing different mediums of advertisement to market their product to their target audience. As mentioned by amandaally1209 above, some companies have already made the move towards exclusively social media promotion to reach a greater number and more specific demographic more apt to buy their product (Go-Pro is marketed to the younger demographic, the same population base that must heavily uses Youtube). And then there are companies that are advertised by not actively advertising the product. By this I mean companies such as Rolls-Royce simply don’t advertise because they market their brand as an exclusive item that “benefits from its reputation among the wealthy elite.” Therefore, they rely entirely on word of mouth from a very select demographic as their sole marketing/ reputation base. In short, their exclusivity by price tag makes them desirable to the select few.
Music videos are the prime location for many tobacco and alcohol brands that do not typically run television advertisements. While these music videos are showed on cable and satellite video channels, most of its views occur on youtube. this is not only in the US either. A research study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health recorded the use of music video advertising and found that "From video release to the point of survey [11/2014], the videos delivered an estimated 1006 million gross impressions of alcohol (95% CI 748 to 1264 million), and 203 million of tobacco (95% CI 151 to 255 million), to the British population". considering that music artist often set trends for millennials, their music videos provide ideal product placement to reach the target demographics.
In my other post I performed a SWOT analysis on Intuitive Surgical, the market leader in robotic systems. Intuitive is most known for the da Vinici robotic systems. It's true that for most medical devices you never see any television commercials. Whereas pharmaceutical companies use a lot of television commercials for marketing drugs. In the medial device field companies have sales people that reach out directly to their target consumers-doctors/hospitals. In addition to a sales team, publications and word of mouth from colleagues/hospital support the product. For example if surgeons mention the great results they obtained through using da Vinci systems either through publications or word of mouth, other surgeons are more likely to buy one. Overall I would say for medical devices-direct sales, conferences, and publications with clinical trial data are ways companies market devices.
Costco Wholesale is a company that does not use television advertisement, and has been very successful. There are four ways of promoting that the company uses to best market their products, which are sales promotion, direct marketing, personal selling, and public relations. With sales promotion, Costco offers discounts to their products, to get consumers more interested in their store. Costco makes use of direct marketing by sending emails and a monthly publication of products available to their members. With personal selling, Costco works to convince their consumers to go to the store itself and purchase their products. Finally, Costco uses public relations to enhance their image by doing donations for children in need. Costco Wholesale is continuously growing just by promoting their products, without any actual advertisement.
http://panmore.com/costco-wholesale-marketing-mix-4ps-analysis
Now medical device companies are directly contacting consumers, but not necessarily through the traditional television airways. Companies such as Medtronic and Boston Scientific have patient education websites advertised on social media to deliver information about their products and the conditions these products treat in a less direct approach to engage patients. All Medtronic medical products are not advertised on TV, they are advertised using ads online or on the educational websites.
Medtronic's back.com features patient stories about back pain and managing chronic pain issues. The website has a "doctor discussion guide" to optimize appointments and a tool to connect with back pain specialists. The website also features information about specific treatments, such as spinal cord stimulation, with physicians and patients talking about the technology; on those pages, consumers find the product names. Otherwise, the Medtronic brand only appears in the website's copyright at the bottom of the page.
I noticed that 3M Company doesn't post their ads on TV, there are several ways to do the publicity.
3M – previously known as Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing company – was founded in 1902. Since its inception, the global technology company has created products that deliver the innovative solution to various industries.
In fact, the company supplies industries – such as healthcare, electronics, communications, manufacturing, energy, design and construction, automotive, commercial solutions, mining, oil and gas, safety and transportation – with the necessary products.
1. Go Ahead campaign- features how consumers creatively communicate with post-it notes.
“As we did research on our customer base, the crucial finding is that people had a much more emotional relationship with the product than 3M executives had expected. They’re using it to communicate, using it to collaborate, using it to organize themselves.” said Jesse Singh, vice president for the stationery and office supplies division of 3M in Minnesota. By using consumer’s stories as an inspiration, 3M is able to create ads that accurately depict its customer’s emotional relationship with its products.
2. Uses User-Generated Content for Promotions
User-Generated Content remains popular for several reasons. It enables businesses to post their user’s creations and get promotional content for free. It also enables users to gain additional exposure – which appeals to creators who want to increase their popularity on social media. For 3M, the strategy seems fitting since its customers are creators. In fact, the brand found that most of its consumers belong to the maker movement. For starters, the movement refers to DIY-ers who are interested in industries such as robotics, crafts, and engineering.
3. #LifeWith3M campaign- creates hashtag campaigns
This aimed to show how 3M’s products could be useful in various industries. “We’re leveraging our brand’s DNA and unifying its diverse range of technologies into one central platform.” tweeted 3M’s Chief Marketing Officer, Don Branch. Among the campaign’s promotions were 3M’s science applied to communication, which showcased how 3M’s pure silica glass with a viscoelastic foam made broadband installation easier.
The campaign was not only meant to increase brand awareness, but to also encourage young professionals to join the brand.
4. 3MDIY web portal – created a hub where DIY-ers can get project inspiration
3M’s has constantly created actionable content. The brand launched the 3MDIY web portal – a hub where DIYers can get inspiration for their next project. Among its posts are Tips for Painting a Wall from Dark to Light and How to Create a Plank Wall. Each post of these posts contain detailed step-by-step instructions (with pictures!). “Instead of delivering a product-specific story, we’ve created a community of DIYers and given them content specific to the project they’re working on,” said Remi Kent, 3M’s global brand strategy leader.
The brand’s strategy has resulted in a 50% increase on time spent in the website.
In the industry there are indeed many products that can be discovered based on project needs. The Rees system is a product that is leaned about just by googling what is needed for monitoring equipment in validation programs, and the entire market for monitoring systems came up. The company I work for now currently use the Rees system to monitor all our equipment that measures temperature. I did projects in school where I leaned about biomedical products that I was only able to lean about because I had to research it. I had never seen most of those devices that I came across in school on television advertisement.
One biggest product I have seen is motors used in Dr. Foulds labs. I haven't seen them on any advertisements on tv or internet. The way I found out about their product is because they sent a sample motor to Dr. Foulds lab as an advertisement. After see that motor, Dr. Adamovich bought similar motor for his research. Another example, I think is Drones, I recently bought a drone, but I didn't see it on television, instead I saw it on my friend who saw it with another friend. He told me that the drone he has very good and reliable which made me want to buy it as well. As we saw in lecture, I think real advertisement in current world is your friends.
This product and marketing method might not connect too well with the topic, however education can be seen as a product and search engines as a platform to market on. Google makes a lot of money by AdWords and many companies pay to have their products be seen for these specific words. The most expensive groups of AdWords are financially based and geared towards the cost of education. These advertisements are not really seen on TV commercials (except for for-profit schools), rather searched by the prospective student. Therefore this method of marketing is very effective for the digital age, companies pay to have their products show up higher on the search list which directly leads to their products being sold to the consumer that is very dependent on search engines (which is most of the internet-using population).
A product that does well without the use of television or other mainstream forms of advertisement is Krispy Kreme doughnuts. These have such a strong following of enthusiasts that search specifically for the coveted glazed doughnut that it does not require advertising. Additionally, other consumers will advertise simply by word of mouth or by seeing someone else eating the doughnut.
One of the product that is doing good without the Telisvision or other form of advertisements is Zara. It is one of the worlds largest retailers and does not have any budget for advertising. Instead of that the company uses money to buy expensive storefronts next to luxury retailers so that they can make themselves leaders in affordable luxury.
Costco, BJ's, and Sams club are 3 wholesale shopping centers that do not use televised advertisement to get clients. Focusing on Costco- Costco has nearly 700 stores (mostly in North America) and has proven to be one of the most consistent retailers in the industry with increasing revenue and profits. Believe it or not, Costco actually doesn't make money off of selling their merchandise, but the bulk of Costco's operating profit comes from its members an annual fee for the privilege of shopping at its stores. In 2014, Costco generated an operating profit of $3.22 billion. Of this amount, $2.43 billion came from membership fees. So obviously customers main goal is to bring in members, yet they do very minimum advertisements! While many retailers spend huge sums of money on marketing, attempting to drive customers to their stores, Costco spends essentially nothing. It has no advertising budget! Costco's advertising focuses mostly on sending targeted mailers to prospective members, and coupons to existing members.
