Being anywhere in the world outside the United States does not mean that you have to go without comparison shopping. There are sites for those in Australia that not only can you, as a shopper, compare prices on things like laptops and shoes, but as an advertiser, you can use pay per click advertising as a way to get more sales through the site.

MyShopping.Com.AU is a site where you can do any of these things. Comparison shopping will always be important to the thrifty consumer. I’m sure that there are plenty of people in Australia who would like to know where to get the best deals on items in their own country. Websites like the one linked provides the right kind of opportunities for shoppers to not only save time, but money to find items that they are looking for when they go shopping.

In the United States a comparable site would likely be something like MySimon. You know, I don’t even know if my simon is still around, but if it is, that is the site that would compare. I enjoy using a single website to find all the information I’m looking for in one place. The worst parts of sites like Shop.com is the spam and just junk that I usually find. I wish there were a way to avoid that.

Doctors in the United Kingdom are calling for a ban on all alcohol advertising according to the BBC. This includes sport and music sponsorships. The reason for the ban is to put the brakes on the rising rates of consumption in the country.

What will advertisers do with all that extra money? After all, in the UK, the alcohol industry spends over 800 million pounds per year on promoting their wares.

The problem in the UK, as well as across the world, is the rising cost of medical expenses related to treating those with alcohol related disease. According to the BBC, the cost to the NHS for treating alcohol related illnesses is estimated to be around 3 billion pounds in the UK alone. In the country, alcohol related illnesses is the third most dangerous disease, only smoking and high blood pressure are greater.

Of course, they are having the same problem that we have been having for years. There is a focus on marketing to younger people and that has to be stopped.

They are also trying to target the price of alcohol. If it is more expensive, there is a lesser chance that everyone would be able to afford it. Much like cigarettes are being taxed in the United States now, if alcohol is being taxed higher in the UK perhaps less people would be willing to drink so freely.

I honestly believe that there are some members of the population that will partake whenever they want if they want. The problem with trying to get younger people to stop is that it’s just so much of the culture, that you have to change the culture to get them to stop, or slow down. Look at college fraternity parties; when you see them portrayed on TV they have kegs of beer and there seems to be an unlimited supply of alcohol. In real life, it’s not much different; however, I’ve never seen anyone throw a mattress out a window.

It has to be taken a bit further than just limiting advertising in my opinion.

Source

Promotional Ads: – Promotional Ads are now available for purchase on our site starting at $15 per month and appear on the homepage(below the first post) and at the bottom of a post on the post page. Interested parties should visit the Advertising section for more information.

Moderation: – A few people have been writing in asking what makes their comments go to moderation on our website. While I would like to directly answer the question I have to guard the secret because it helps control spam comment here.

However, I can give you a few examples that will defiantly get a comment that you make sent to moderation and a couple that will probably just get your comments canned(sent directly to trash).

First off note that commenting on The Lucrative Investor or any website should be a real actual comment. Meaning don’t leave a comment simply for SEO reasons, make a comment that someone would actually want to read. As a comment is a reflection of you and who you are.

Don’t hire people to make comments on our site or any site. Most paid comment services can barely write a complete sentence, or at the very least contribute anything beneficial to the discussion. If a comment is sent to moderation and we have to reconstruct it to make sense because it is so badly worded chances are we will simply delete it.

A good comment not only reflects well upon you but also allows more discussion to take place. This allows every to make more comments and help each other out and foster better conversation.

Good Comment

While the current economic crisis at first was thought to last for many years, people’s recent growing belief that the worst is behind us implies to me that the economy may be better in the 4th quarter of this year.

Comments That Will Get Sent to Moderation

Current economic crisis is bad for all especially people hard work. People have faith in system to recover our belief must restore to learn themselves or no reward.

Comment That Will Simply Be Auto Deleted

Econmic(hyperlinked) sytem people crisis for al. Yes real. i faith to system must restore

Just remember

Weather or not your comment makes it onto the site is up to us. However, the best way to have your comments not get sent to moderation is to look at what comments are live and make as equally good comments.

The better the comment that you make the less likely that your comment will be sent to moderation.
We reserve the right to edit or remove any comment left on the site.

Are you any more likely to buy a Hyundai with the Price Assurance policy?

Question:

Recently, Hyundai has been advertising their “price assurance” policy which states that if you lose your job you can return the car without any negative effect on your credit score. Now, they are even offering to “pay” you monthly for six months.

With these new measures in place, are you any more likely to buy a Hyundai?

Answer:

I am more inclined to look into a Hyundai car but wouldn’t necessarily say that I would choose it over Honda or Toyota.

However, for the price, Hyundai’s (in my opinion) are great cars. You are definitely getting more for your money with that company than many other companies.

1.     Situation Analysis

a.       The company – include company performance over the last three years.  The product – provide a description of the merchandise the store/dealership carries.

b.      Retail footprint – where are the stores/dealerships located in U.S.?  Provide map

c.       The environment

a.       Industry trends

b.      Social, economic trends

d.      SWOT -  ½ to 1 page chart of what you believe the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are.

e.       The competition – list who the main competitors are and who the indirect competitors are.

2.   Target Market Research Overview:

a.       Secondary research

Provide an explanation of databases you searched for insights on the target market.

Describe what clusters the target market belongs to from Claritas, Tapestry, etc.

Simmons results, provide a detailed explanation of what you searched for and found in Simmons data base.

b.      Primary research -

a.      Methodology – who did you ask and how did you collect data?

b.      Provide summary of results from each question

3.   Key insights (from both primary and secondary)

a.      Inside the targets’ mind – who is this person?

b.      Pull direct quotes from target market interviews, relevant articles.

4.  Target market profile

a.      Primary market

b.      Secondary

I have a lot of “in class” experience with SWOT analyses. In strategic management, we had to take cases as prepared and come up with the organizations’ major strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (obviously, what makes up the SWOT analysis).

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, a SWOT analysis is part of the beginning stages of an advertising campaign. When doing research on the company it is important to put together as much background information as possible as cohesively as possible. SWOT analyses are a good tool because it puts the information together in a short form for the company to read when it comes time for your marketing agency (or whomever is putting together the campaign) to show the company the plansbook.

The strengths are the company’s strengths with little or no outside interference, basically what makes the company different from other companies, or what gives the company a competitive edge. The company’s position against its competitors can be a major strength if it is a leader or close to being a leader in its category.

The weaknesses are weak points in the company that the company does have control over, or can do something to change it. For example, in 2005, Hershey candy company only had a 10 percent market share in the world outside the United States. A major weakness for Hershey is its lack of globalization.

Threats are obstacles the company faces, has faced, or will face and cannot control. A major threat facing most companies right now is the economy. Another example of a common threat to most companies is competition. Having detailed information about how your company stacks up against the competition can help when determining the main competitors and how threatening they truly are to your company.

Opportunities basically takes the weaknesses and finds a way to help fix them. In the Hershey example, an opportunity it has is to globalize the company. A preferable method to globalization for it would be horizontal integration, where it acquires other brands in parts of the world where it would like to be. It is also important to know the market you are looking to offer services in. It would be smarter to try to offer chocolate to those in Europe than to those in Asia simply due to the percentage of people who are lactose intolerant in Asia…and the sales numbers for chocolate reflect that.

If you are currently looking for help in a certain area of marketing, advertising, promotion, or public relations leave a comment below and we’ll try to help!!

Dedicated Server – We’re proud to announce that we will be moving to a dedicated server soon to help with grow and speed issues. The dedicated server will allow us to not worry about resources for a couple of months. This will allow us to concentrate on other areas that we have been neglecting.

Funding – We are currently entertaining offers for funding from various sources. Please Contact us if interested.

So, I’ve spent the past few years of my life getting my B.B.A. in marketing communications. I have decided that now would be the best time to start sharing some of the things I have been taught or that I’ve found to be the most interesting over my time at the university.

Since this is the first post devoted to sharing what I know about marketing, I thought I’d let everyone know what classes I’ve taken so hopefully I can answer questions rather than having to post everything from Principles of Marketing to Advanced Campaign Planning.

Here’s a list of the marketing classes I’ve taken:
Marketing Principles
Services Marketing
Advertising and Promotion
Public Relations
Advanced Campaign Planning
Consumer Behavior

If you have any questions about any of these topics, I will be writing articles on Saturdays and Sundays regarding marketing.

So, here’s the first thing I want to share: The 4 P’s of Marketing! Also known as the “Marketing Mix,” the 4 P’s of Marketing are the building blocks of any marketing curriculum. The marketing mix is typically in chapter one of every marketing textbook.

* Product – Product is referring to the tangible item or the service that the client has to offer. For example, this website currently offers information and that would be the product that Lucrative Investing offers. It is important to have a product that makes you unique. The more unique an item is, the more likely that someone will come along and buy it.

* Price – This is, in a very basic sense, how much will your product cost. Pricing decisions should take more into account the value that the customer puts on the product or service, but should also take into account profit margins and competitors’ pricing.

* Place (distribution) – “Location, location, location!!” Place has to do with the distribution channels or locations that the product or service is purchased or consumed.

* Promotion – This, in my opinion, is the most fun part of the marketing mix and the “P” I have had the most classes in. This is the part of the marketing mix that deals with advertising and public relations. It deals with getting the word out to consumers.

All these elements come together to try to reach the target market and get a response from them (hopefully the response is positive and they make a purchase decision about the product). All these elements need to be coordinated in order for the marketing mix to be successful.

Here’s a chart I found on the internet that summarizes the marketing mix:

This problem is not unique to the United States:

The United Kingdom Ministry of Justice released a statement saying that debt management business have been warned not to use misleading advertising any more. Some of the statements that have been considered to be misleading include:

“80% of credit agreements are unenforceable!”
“A positive outcome is guaranteed!”
“We have a 100% success rate!”
“We’ll get your credit cards written off within 6 weeks!”

Of course those are fraudulent and misleading claims. No one can reduce all their credit cards in 6 weeks if they have a seriously bad debt to income ratio.

This has obviously been a problem for some time, in 2006 Debt Free Direct appealed to the Advertising Standards Agency to try to stop the misleading claims that were being made by advertisements from competitors about IVAs and other debt management solutions.

Source:
Debt Free Direct

The two sides had been nearing an agreement before the weekend. But Sun balked at IBM’s last price of $9.40 per share, which had come down from earlier offers but still was about double Sun’s stock price before word of the negotiations leaked last month. Sun canceled IBM’s exclusive negotiating rights, and IBM withdrew its offer, people familiar with the situation told The Associated Press. These people requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to disclose details of the talks.
Story continues below ?advertisement | your ad here

IBM and Sun might still end up together. Investors appear to be taking that prospect into account, as Sun’s stock hasn’t fallen all the way back to the $4 to $5 range it occupied before the acquisition discussions surfaced.

A deal between Sun and IBM could be best for both companies.
Source

TechCrunch proprietor Michael Arrington, citing three unnamed sources, said on Thursday night that Google would pay for Twitter in cash, stock or a combination of the two.

The companies are also considering working together on a new search engine, he wrote.
Story continues below ?advertisement | your ad here

Hours after Arrington’s blog entry, Kara Swisher reported on her Boomtown blog said the story was inaccurate, citing “a number of sources.”

“In fact, Twitter and Google have simply been engaged in ’some product-related discussions,’ according to one source,” Swisher wrote.

I know that I write a lot about Twitter, but I still can’t understand why some people want to use it. Someone commented on the last post I wrote about Twitter with a YouTube video that basically sums up exactly how I feel about it.

This seems like a pretty good idea if your job field is say, marketing or advertising (or both!), but what does a resume that is also an advertisement really do for someone that a video resume doesn’t?

First, you have to purchase airtime (if you want it on tv), otherwise, it’s a video resume because you’re just sending it to an employer.

Second, you actually have to have some kind of production equipment or you will have to pay someone to do that video for you.

I don’t know about some people, but I don’t have the kind of money to throw around on something that is expensive and may or may not work.

The ad said that Coke doesn’t make you fat or rot your teeth and that one myth said that Coke is full of caffeine…haha. Well, now the company is going to have to run a few corrective ads to say that all calories count and Coke is ok in moderation.

Not only will the company have to run the corrective ads, it will also post caffeine amounts on its website.

The ACCC [Australian Competition & Consumer Commission] said it has worked with Coca-Cola’s unit in Australia to issue new advertisements under a court-enforceable action. The ads, called “Setting The Record Straight,” will run Saturday in major Australian newspapers such as The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Courier Mail and The Australian. The company will also publish the same corrective advertisement on its Web site and include the correct levels of caffeine for drinks like Coca-Cola, Diet Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola Zero on the site.

“Coke’s messages were totally unacceptable, creating an impression which is likely to mislead that Coca-Cola cannot contribute to weight gain, obesity and tooth decay,” the ACCC said in a statement.

The FTC has told advertisers that they must begin showing “typical results” when advertising a product.

It seems like as long as companies threw in the phrase “results not typical” then everything was fine and the commercial could go on advertising results that many of us would never receive.

These are some of the new FTC requirements:

•Consumer testimonials would have to be substantiated and ads would have to include generally expected results. Endorsers, not just advertisers, could be held liable for deceptive claims. “You’d have to say not only is it extreme, but how extreme is it,” the FTC’s Richard Cleland said.

•Celebrities who talk up a product in an interview must disclose if they are getting paid for the promotion. Celebrities who endorse products would have to disclose if they have an ownership interest.

•Expert endorsers, like doctors, must have experience in the product area they are endorsing. If they don’t, the limits of their expertise must be stated. For instance, an ophthalmologist identified only as a doctor could not be portrayed as an expert physician endorsing a hearing aid.

•Bloggers who get free products and then endorse them on their blogs would have to make it clear they got the products free.

I would love to see typical results on these commercials, I think it would be pretty funny. I’m sure there won’t be too many ads about diet pills anymore if they can’t show their pride and joy users…
Source

Well, things aren’t happpening in Vegas anymore.

Companies that have always had their meetings in Sin City are starting to move their conventions and gatherings to other cities across the country, or just cancelling them altogether.

-Goldman Sachs is moving its convention to San Francisco.

- Wells Fargo cancelled its “gathering” a week before it was set to take place.

Conventions generated $8.5 billion in economic revenue in 2008 for Las Vegas, but in December alone the number of corporate conventions and meetings was down 16.7% from 2007.

We can all expect the Las Vegas convention and Visiotrs authority to launch a new advertising campaign soon, targeting the dwindling market.

Integrating social media websites takes time, skill and money. In a corporate marketing program, getting onto and working these sites into the marketing plan can take thousands of dollars. According to BusinessWeek.com, the budget starts at $50,000. A budget between $50,000 and $100,000 can help create a “simple multimedia microsite.” Of course, the more complex, the more expensive the project will be.

The Businessweek Source says, “A high-yield, highly targeted blog advertising campaign to kick off and support the program will cost an additional $25,000 to $100,000 a month. Advertising through Google’s AdWords, e-mail support, co-registration, and other tools that drive traffic would be additional costs.”

It is true that social media advertising is relatively new and what a lot of people are doing to market their website or new “thing”, but people need to realize the real costs associated with social media marketing.

Source

To some, the fall of Juicy Campus is a welcomed one. However, the reason the site was taken down was “supposedly” not because it was being asked to, but because advertisers were steering clear of the site and the ad dollars just weren’t coming in.

Who can blame the advertisers? After all, no one would want their products affiliated with something that was always being criticized.

College ACB (College Anonymous Confession Board) has taken it’s place at juicycampus.com. It is trying to entice students to come together and give constructive discussions about campus life in general.

I think the idea of Juicy Campus was good, but turned into something not so great. Some people’s feelings were hurt while other things were just trashed altogether. There really wasn’t any constructive criticism whatsoever.

So this could be a much more toned down year as far as advertising during the “big game” goes.

The companies that aren’t pulling their ads may be changing the message they want to send consumers.

Here’s an example from the AP:

Take the case of Hyundai Motors America.

Automotive ads during the Super Bowl tend to focus on vehicle launches, and Hyundai was planning to run two 30-second spots for its Genesis Coupe — one with renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma playing a Bach piece that viewers can re-edit online.

But now, the South Korean carmaker might exchange one of the ads for a spot featuring a new incentive program that forgives auto loans for car buyers who lose their income within a year of the purchase. – Source

Again, I’m sitting in a very condensed 2-week intersession class about advertising and promotion. The very first day of class, my professor talked about FedEx cutting the ad from the Superbowl. She asked the class what we thought about FedEx since it decided to back out. The answer was simply, “it is weak.”

We also talked about how companies cut their marketing budgets during an economic downturn. Usually advertising is one of the first things to go, but if when they stop advertising, consumers see them as weak…perhaps cuts should come from somewhere else first.

I couldn’t agree more. When compared to ads like AT&T’s melting snowman or exploding turkey or even Alltel’s clay caricatures of the other cell company’s sales reps, Sprints ads of Dan Hesse walking through the street or sitting at a diner are boring. With him also saying very obvious or generic things like, this could be the only phone you ever need… There really isn’t a lot of draw to the ailing cellular company.

I think Verizon did a better job with a guy walking around asking “Can you hear me now?”At least it was memorable

Source

So what’s wrong with Sprint?

As a Sprint subscriber (yes, I know. I should probably go into hiding for admitting that now), I am disappointed with the marketing tactics used. Sure, maybe in political advertising attacking your opponent doesn’t work, but when you’re trying to gain some market share in the cellular industry, sometimes you have to point out every weakness of your competitor. Look at Verizon…they are one of the top 2 cellular companies in the US, and their ads are specifically targeting Sprint. Poor little Sprint Why wouldn’t Verizon pick on At&t? Well, I believe that Verizon is trying to move as many CDMA (At&t is GSM) customers to its side as possible…

If Verizon Wireless can put Sprint out of business, that is one less carrier it will have to compete with.

I think Sprint can make a comeback. Hopefully.

Starbucks, however, didn’t want to ruin all the fun. Now Starbucks is giving the free tall coffee to anyone who asks.

There are other “I Voted” freebies today:

Krispy Kreme is giving away a free star shaped doughnut if you show your “I Voted” sticker (I didn’t get one of those, my polling place didn’t have them)

Some Chick-fil-A locations are giving away chicken sandwiches.

Ben and Jerry’s – a free scoop of ice cream

Books-A-Million – another free cup of coffee.

For the first time in years, stores (including large retailers like K-Mart) are advertising their layaway departments. However, many retailers are saying that layaway only accounts for a small percentage of already declining sales. Also, many consumers would rather make payments on something while they have it rather than pay on something that sits in storage at the store.

I remember when my parents would put things on layaway for Christmas. It was pretty funny because that was one of the only ways to keep my sister and I from knowing what we were going to get that year (my mom always waited until the last minute to wrap presents and Santa didn’t wrap presents at all). That’s another practical use for layaway…think about it.

One example is the “DiGiornonomics” ad being put out by Kraft for their DiGorno brand frozen pizza. They have a ticker type thing that says a Digorno costs $6.69 while a take out pizza costs $16…They’re just trying to get into the consumer’s fears about rising food costs. It’s understandable, but what my husband and I have realized is that if we’re going to go out for dinner (say at Chili’s or something comparable) we’re going to spend at least $30 for both of us…if we stop at Domino’s or another pizza place we can get a pizza and have left overs for days. mmm… pizza

I try to be a cost conscious consumer, but when Kroger slow churned ice cream is sitting right next to Edy’s for half the price…I can’t turn down the Kroger brand.

Good try though Kraft.

AOL will be shutting down AOL pictures, one of the oldest photo sharing sites on the web, BlueString, a service that stores photos, video, and music, and XDrive, a site which AOL bought in 2005 where you can backup information from your computer to the internet. While AOL is trying to sell at least XDrive, they are all expected to be shut down by the end of 2008.

AOL is shutting down these services to focus AOL as an advertising business rather than a business that offers several different services. According to Executive Vice President Kevin Conroy, AOL wants to make sure every product impacts their bottom line.

AOL should shut these services down if it isn’t doing anything for them. With other hosting sites like Photobucket or Flickr for pictures and with the cost of portable data storage (like flash drives) coming down, these sites are becoming obsolete.

*Image courtsey of BlueString.com