ESL 91
FALL, 2002
FOCUS DISCIPLINE ESSAYS
BUSINESS

Xiao 1
Xiao 2


Xiao Yu Wu
ESL 91
Fall, 2002

Essay Topic: Explore the area of marketing in business. What is marketing? Using examples of specific products, explain the importance of the four marketing utilities and the law of supply and demand in business. Also speak a bit about how the principles of marketing have changed as a result of the Internet.

According to Dave Dolak’s definition of marketing, "Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals." Marketing is the fundamental principle of business. It creates an environment for two or more parties to get value, so that each party is satisfied. In the field of marketing, individuals and organizations make exchanges with goods, services and ideas. Marketing satisfies the consumers’ needs and wants and helps businesses meet their goals. Organizations can get the value to achieve their objectives when the marketing promotes what they sell.

Marketing must understand both sides of consumers’ "wants and needs"and "satiability". For example, if a clothes factory wants to distribute a new style of clothes to the market, the first thing to do is to research the clothing market and analyze the percentage of those clothes which consumers need. If the market is full of those kinds of clothes, consumers might not consider buying those same style clothes any more. So those clothes will fail in the market. Consumers’ purchasing behavior directly affects the selling rate of those products. In order to sell those clothes successfully, the clothes factory has to reinforce some strategies to promote its product effectively. For example, it might not sell those clothes in a food store. The clothes factory has to select a proper location to sell those clothes, like selling in a mall and outlet where consumers desirably visit more. Marketing should be flexible. Marketing consists of several useful tools for organizations and consumers; those tools are time, location, form and possession. Both the organization and the consumers can select the proper tools to develop what they want and need. For example, during the period of Christmas, more consumers will buy clothes as a Christmas gift; therefore, the clothes factory can supply different kinds of clothes to offer more options for consumers, so organizations earn the benefit. Marketing contributes the time tools for organizations and consumers to accomplish their goals. If those organizations and consumers desire to be satisfied, they have to select the correct tools.

Basically, most consumers buy the products from the stores or supermarkets. Some organizations design a strategy to be convenient for consumers. Because more and more people are working outside the home, they might not have enough time to go to the supermarkets to buy their food. Some of the organizations target this market by providing an Internet market place. Consumers can buy what they want through the Internet; they don’t need to spend time walking to the supermarkets to purchase those products. They just surf the Internet and select those products which they want to buy. After a couple of days, the consumers will receive those products. Internet businesses might charge 2-10 dollars as a fee for delivery, and the delivery fee sometimes depends on the size of product. If the product is big, the Interest businesses charge more money. Even with this fee, the Internet market saves consumers more time to work on their jobs and have the money back from working.

My response is marketing is an important element in every society. I clearly understand the concept of marketing because I am taking business courses in college. I have learned lots of marketing information. This is important to me, because I want to be a business person after I graduate. In my course of marketing, I learned that marketing causes a society’s economy to be good or bad. Without marketing, organizations and consumers cannot do the exchange to be satisfied; therefore, the society might lose its balance. So marketing can help a society to prosper. In marketing, consumers seek satisfaction from those organizations’ products. According to the concept which is mentioned in the book Marketing, writer by Michael J. Etzel, organizations provide various products into the market to attract the consumers, but the final buying behavior is determined by the consumers because the consumers are the final buyers. Organizations work in order to achieve their objectives; they adopt different strategies to attract consumers to buy their own products. So the consumers’ recognition for products determines the product’s selling rate. Organizations have to use the effective ways to motivate consumers to buy the products.

Marketing is a fundamental principle of business. It distributes an area for organizations and consumers to seek what they want and need. Organizations and consumer are satisfied by doing the exchanges. Organizations can implement their objectives by offering the different kinds of products and services that satisfy consumers’ needs and wants. On the other hand, consumers can select those products and services to fulfill their needs and wants. Marketing has the ability to satisfy both sides of the parties. So Marketing is necessary in business.

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Xiao Yu Wu
ESL 91
Fall, 2002

Essay Topic: Discuss the psychological factors involved in advertising. How do advertisers use the basic determinants of consumer behavior--needs, motives, perceptions, and attitudes--in designing product advertisements? What types of ads are most likely to appeal to or change our needs, motives, perceptions, and attitudes?

According to the text "Consumer Psychology," written by Loretta F. Kasper, consumer psychology is defined as, "the acts of individuals in the obtaining and using goods and services, including the decision processes that precede and determine these acts." The consumer psychology determines consumer buying behavior. In marketing, a particular problem is how organizations convince consumers to focus on their products and services. Therefore, organizations have to select the proper approach to make products and services expand well.

In marketing, when organizations offer products, first they have to survey the consumers’ needs and perceptions about this product. Secondly, the organizations must adopt an effective approach to stimulate consumer buying behavior. Advertising plays a great role to affect consumer psychology. Advertising is the most popular and powerful approach. It delivers the messages by broadcasting the new products and services on TV, radio, and by locating attractive pictures in some crowded and popular places, like Times Square or subway stations. Those methods are used in order to get people’s attention. For example, Ford Motor Company locates a picture of a new luxury car at Times Square. In the picture, a lady sits inside the car; she looks so powerful and loyal. This significant picture motivates the women consumers in their imaginations. They want to be as powerful as the lady in the picture. Therefore, those women consumers implement this imagination by making a purchase. Other consumers hope to have this car for their own collections because this new car offers a good feature. This car is silver, and it looks premium. Because of this advertising, the Ford Motor Company sells this car successfully. Ford Motor Company clearly understands that consumer buying behavior is directly affected by consumer psychology, so they uniquely stimulate consumer psychology to achieve the selling goals.

Because of the development of technology, consumers hope to have more convenient and modern ways to make purchases. Now, more and more married women work outside the home. Those married women think it is very tiresome to go shopping after they have spent excessive time taking care of their children and working on their jobs. So their needs are the more convenient and easy way of purchasing instead of shopping at the supermarkets. Therefore, some organizations aim the consumer psychology to offer Internet purchasing. Those married women can surf in the Internet and click on the products they want by sitting in front of the computer anywhere. They feel comfortable and easy making the purchases. The version of the web site is important too; organizations can use bright colors and Flash technology. They should also design some simple and attractive topics in order to save consumers’ time in searching and avoid annoying the consumers. This approach is effective because it satisfies the consumer psychology. Most organizations adopt this approach to make more profit and raise their reputation.

My response is that I have learned that consumer psychology is an important factor to determine consumer buying behavior. The consumer psychology is derived from the advertising which delivers various messages to stimulate consumers’ different wants and needs. I am a consumer, too. When I look at the picture, I hope I will be as powerful as the lady who is in the picture. So I want to buy this car; furthermore, the car’s color is my favorite color. The advertising affects my psychology toward the car, so I have the perception that I want to be like the lady who is at the picture, and I have been motivated. I may buy the car to fulfill the perception, motivated by my psychology. From this particular concept, consumer buying behavior is directly determined by consumer psychology. Therefore, organizations want to make more profit and raise their reputations by advertising the products and services successfully. Moreover, they improve their marketing campaign and marketing strategy to more effectively reach the consumers.

Consumer buying behavior is effectively influenced by consumer psychology. The needs, perceptions, attitudes, and motives are considered to be the factors of consumer psychology. When organizations offer various products and services, they must select the proper approaches to expand the messages well in the market. Advertising performs a great role in that sense. It explores different messages by broadcasting on TV, radio, and showing pictures. For organizations to make profits and improve their reputations, they have to understand consumer psychology well to stimulate consumer buying behavior because consumer psychology determines consumer buying behavior. Return to the Top of this page

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