WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, MARKETING

 WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2024 - MARKETING

I’ve been naive on many things - and maybe that is what marketing people want.

First - Dakota State University had a bookstore.  It sold textbooks, and also sold the various t-shirts, and college items.

Every year, there was a convention of college bookstore managers.  And, every year, there was a “BIG” sale at the bookstore.  BIG was the “Boss is Gone” sale.  It sounded like the remaining employees were going to discount all the goods.  WOW - I better go to the bookstore and buy a new sweatshirt.  After all, the Boss Is Gone!!. 

I’ve come to realize that marketing wants us (that is, the consumer) to think it is a big sale and consumers will get all kinds of good deals.  

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Second marketing story

Growing up, television commercials interested me.  Let’s say Smith Furniture Store is having a Washington’s Birthday Sale (prior to joining Washington and Lincoln for President’s Day).  The ads might have Washington throwing a dollar across the Delaware River.  Okay - they want people to think they are really making bargains 

Okay, Washington’s Day has come and gone - and now the ads are something like this.  “We are holding over our Washington Birthday Sale for another few days.  Stop in and get great bargains.”

I naively thought that at ten o’clock pm on Washington’s Birthday, the manager says “Gee that was good, let’s hold the sale for a few more days.”  So, the manager rushed to the TV studio and recorded a new ad - “Washington’s Birthday Sales is held over.”.

WOW - they want to help selling their furniture at bargain prices.  But, how could they get the new ads ready so quickly?  

Well Karen, that was the plan from the beginning - to call it a “sale” for two weeks instead of just one.  The first week was the Washington Birthday Sale; and the second week was the “The sale was so good, we decided to keep it going” sale. They had all the ads ready to go, 

Retail stores need to get people in the doors - the word “SALE” seems to do something to the human brain.  “WOW - I can really save”.  

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Yes, I play games on my phone.  I do Duolingo German language lessons.  They seem to have a good sense of marketing.  

Yes, learning a language is great.  After every 15 questions on a daily German drill, I would get a 30 second (or even longer) ad.  You want to learn (relearn) German - and you don’t want to pay for the lessons - so watching the ads keeps it free.  So, a lesson is about two minutes with a thirty section ad. - so about 20% of your time was spent on advertising.  I wanted to relearn German, so after 10 years of free usage, I decided to pay for the ad free version.  

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It seems like many of the game apps have ads between the games.  On Words With Friends, if the ads are going to be long, I close the games and restart it.  It can be shorter than having the ads blare on the game.   

Some online ads require the user to click three or four times to get back to the game.  

I currently have only two online services where I pay for ad removal (Duolingo languages, and Pandora Music)

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There is a concept that nothing gets done until something is bought or sold.  Yes, marketing caused almost all of a company to work - from finance, accounting, human resources, information technology, and even janitorial services.  

Colleges are more into “sales” now than they were when I went to college in 1965.  

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Even I’m “selling” something - a concept called “Love Wins”.  Where everybody is to be loved.  While no money gets exchanged, I want people to go deeper into God’s Agape Love!!!

LOVE WINS

LOVE TRANSFORMS

Karen Anne White, ©, May 15, 2024