In response to Kayle

I agree, I think people who publish books are often looked on as very smart successful people when in fact you're right anyone can publish a book. The problem with this is that since anyone can publish, anyone can put any kind of crap that they consider helpful material into the hands of people who more often then not think its genius. That's a problem because then you have all this info floating around that may or may not be relevant. On the marketing side of things though it makes perfect sense to publish a book. Like you said it build credibility and depending on the book does these people gain fame. This in turn results in sales and customers that hang onto every word that the author says. So if were up to you would publish something that may be less then accurate to get the benefits?

Man vs. Machine

Recently Ken Jennings and Watson a super computer went head to head in Jeopardy. Your classic man vs. machine, david vs. goliath. Unfortunately or not depending on how you look at it the machine won. Watson  the super computer made by IBM beat the jeopardy champion. Now this is big news for the company that's had commercial's talking about the project. The project was supposed to be ground breaking a computer designed to be able to compete in the game jeopardy that requires quick thinking and smarts. The company that designed Watson IBM also makes computers, now in my mind this great publicity why not buy a computer from a company that designed that? It makes perfect sense, if i was a customer looking for a good computer I would choose the company that designed the computer that beat Ken Jennings. IBM's marketing in this instance was great in my opinion. Air commercials that show what the company is doing and how it's advancing. I'm sure you've all seen the commercials from IBM showing how exactly they're making the world a better place.  They're effectively building a reputation for themselves which in turn is building customer confidence in the company which results in more sales hopefully. All in all it was a great move by IBM another story about letting the technology do the hard work.

In response to Erica Murray

I think that with the internet being such an integrated part of most peoples lives now a days using social networking sites as marketing tools makes a lot of sense. How many people can you think of off hand that are either on Facebook or twitter and how many of those people use or visit that site everyday? With that much traffic it makes a lot of sense for companies to advertise on Facebook or twitter. If I was a company looking to get customers I'd be sure to try and post something on a site that see's something like a million visits a day. With that in mind does it make sense for companies to eventually phase out older methods of advertising and focus more on internet users?

Strange Strategic Window

This weekend is Super Bowl weekend, the big game of the year. The Super Bowl is one of the most watched TV events each year and brings in a lot of companies looking to get their ad time in.  Playing in this year's super bowl are the Green Bay Packers and The Pittsburgh Steelers. Now most people are aware of the rap artist Wiz Khalifa an artist from the Pittsburgh area whose popularity has been taking off recently. Now what do Wiz Khalifa and the Super Bowl have in common you ask? Not much except for what I think is an interesting strategic window/ coincidence.  For those who don't know what a strategic window is it's a "short period between specific events during which there is an opportunity to capitalize on a marketing situation" (answers.com). The people taking advantage of this window are both the Steelers and Wiz. Most people are familiar with one his recent songs that has become pretty popular Black and Yellow. Now this song came out awhile ago at about the start of the season and was a good song but nearly as popular as it is now. The interesting part is that as the Steelers did well the song became more popular because the Steelers organization adopted the song as a kind of anthem and Wiz has obviously benefited from this. Now this Sunday if the Steelers win by chance the song will be heard not just in the northeast where Wiz is most popular but worldwide! People all over the world will be exposed to this song  boosting Wiz's popularity to new heights. I thought this was interesting when I heard it because Wiz made this song as a pittsburgh anthem of sorts not just for the Steelers but at the time couldn't have known the success the steelers would experience this season. So by making this song Wiz and the Steelers organization have benefited by bringing in new fans and customers. Now the question I have is could Wiz a Pittsburgh native have known this was destined to happen or was this just some grand coincidence?

The Four P's and Job Hunting

If you're trying to find a job and put yourself out there it might be helpful to consider the 4 P's when doing so. The 4 p's or Price, Promotion, Place, Product, can really help you figure out how to market yourself to a company so you can be successful within that company. I can say that I haven't done this in the past and often find myself in positions where I'm getting paid but I'm not happy with either what I'm doing or where I am.

By using the 4 P's you can put yourself in a better position. So before applying to you're next job consider these.

Product: You are the product, you have to figure out a way to market yourself to a company as effectively as possible. For example say you were applying to a management job at a small production company you wouldn't want to say that you've never done anything with business or management. Instead, before you go in for the interview find out what the company is about and what kind of people they hire and then market yourself that way.

Place: Think about the place you're trying to apply to. A vegetarian might not do so well as an executive of a slaughter house. In my opinion this is the most important factor, if you put yourself in a bad position from the start there's not much hope for you at any company. Apply and put yourself in a spot where you can perform well and show your skills.

Price: Pricing yourself can be hard at times because you want to price yourself competitively but also fairly. You can't walk into an employer and demand 100,000 plus for your services. before applying do some research and find out what starting employees in similar fields of work make.

Promotion: This is pretty important, how do you want to promote yourself to a future employer. Do you want to walk in dressed appropriately and aware of what you need to say to this employer to make them want you? Probably, you have to consider the fact that the interview is an opportunity for the employer to see what you're all about. Are they dressed right, do they seem professional, do they seem like they want to be a hardworking member of my team? By thinking about how you want to promote yourself before walking in you up you're chances of getting the attention of the employer.

What is the difference between marketing, advertising, and propaganda

What is the difference between marketing, advertising, and propaganda?
I think the difference between advertising and marketing is that marketing can be a lot of things. Marketing is a strategy, that a company could come up with to achieve a certain goal. In other words if I was the CEO of a company I could try to come up with a marketing plan that would raise profits by 25% and help make the company more known. Advertising however is a bit different. Advertising is a tool you could use to get to that goal. For example a company may take out a billboard or maybe a magazine page to help get customers to come in. Propaganda is like advertising except I think that in most cases the information involved in the ad's is biased. An example I can think of is the Nazi propaganda during WWII which depicted jews, gypsies, and soviets as lesser people that were ruining germany which in turn gained support for the Nazi's. All in all I think all three are methods of delivering information whether it be a scheme a picture or information about a subject.