Reflation on Studying Marketing

This is the last week of Accelerated Summer College at Saint Michael’s college. In these short and dense six weeks, I have learned a lot of knowledge about marketing. Before I took this course, I always thought marketing is a department which only concentrates on sales and advertisements in a company. However, after I read our text book, I realize that marketing is not only in charged of sales, and a good marketer does not only focus on advertisements. In my opinion, the basic definition of marketing is that it is an approach that connects its own company, the society and customers, and create a solid relationship with customers in order to capture their value.

From finding customers’ needs to capture their value, there are many important components help the company to achieve its goal. First, the company needs to understand the marketplace and customers needs. If the company needs If the company has a hard time to sell its products, marketing department should start doing researches and analyzing the problems in order to satisfy customers’ needs. Secondly, before the company launch its product to overall market, the marketing department has a very important thing to do and that is make a customer-driven marketing strategy in order to the company’s products can target its customers accurately. In addition, the marketers’ jobs would not be finished even after they sold the products to the market. They still need to keep the beneficial relationship with customers. Vitally, if marketers want to build a valuable marketing strategy, they must keep four “p”, which are product, price, place, and promotion, in their minds all times because they are the basic keys to deliver the company’s value to their customers precisely. Last but not least, Marketing does not only take customers’ feelings into account when they sell products, but it also needs to be responsible for the environment. This is called business ethics. To observe whether a company has good morals when they product products, that is the only principle to judge a company.

Even though marketing is a subject for studying business, it really has a lot of essential elements of other subjects. It is more alike a social science course and a combination subject. Reading through the textbook, I have also learned a little about customer psychology, accounting, micro-economy, selling strategy, advertising strategy and etc. For example, when we study about understanding market and customer needs, it is all about learning how to analyze the changes in the society and buyer behaviors. When we study about pricing, the strategy is more based on the trends of social economy. If a company wants to be developed well and stably, they might not only need innovations of their products, but also need to have a mature marketing concept to lead the company.

The Influence of Crowd

Before I talk about my topic this week, I want to talk about a very interesting TED talk show shown by my classmate Will Peterson in our class couple weeks ago. His TED talk’s topic is about how to make a movement. In this TED talk, it tells us that a lone person can become a leader when he dances alone in a public circumstance because the first person who acts differently is potentially to make a movement. If other people start imitating the lone guy, they are going to be the followers. As a result, the movement gets started.

From this story, I realize that not only a leader who acts differently can lead a movement, but a group of customers can also make a trend. Because customers usually imitate each other if they see other customers are browsing or purchasing interesting and unique products. A group of customer’s power is probably not as affected as a dancer in particular circumstance, but it can bring much attentions at least.

For example, in my Wilderness Photography class, we were given an assignment that we needed to do some interviews and photograph local farms and farm markets. So we went to a small farm market in Winooski on Sunday couple weeks ago. When we arrived there, there were not much people and a lot of people were just passing through the market. Since we needed to do interviews and take photos, we started to talk to some random farmers. Not a long time after we started doing interviews and taking pictures, a lot of people came to the our tent to check this farm’s products because they thought there must be some interesting products at this tent. However, there was nothing special, but fresh vegetables.

Customers are curious to all products when they want to purchase. The more people at a store, the more attentions it would grab. Even though there is no very unique products, customers still come because they want to take a look and try. So that would be a very good opportunity to build the first relationship with customers. Think about this, when you saw a street performer playing or singing on a street and there is no one watching, would you watch him and stay there for a while? Probably not. Nevertheless, if you saw a street performer playing or singing on a street was surrounded by crowd, you would probably go and watch. What you saw in front of you already tells you that he is performing an interesting show because there were many people.

It is the same when customers shop. When customers saw a store where does not have a lot of people, they would pass and go to the next store. If they saw a lot of people in one store, they would go inside and check because they think those customers who are in the store already experienced the products of this store and the products can be trusted.

Why Is More Difficult for Liberal Arts College to Enroll More International Students From China?

Following the topic from last week, I still want to talk about the relationship between the colleges in Vermont or even in the United States and international students from China. I had mentioned in last blog that I was unexpectedly called by a staff from admission office in our school, and he wanted to talk about promoting Saint Michael's College to students in China through some Chinese social medias on internet. Therefore, I would like to talk about why our school facing a more difficult problem than other universities to enroll more students from China in the U.S.

When I say connect the relationship between the U.S and international students from China, the only adjective that I can describe it should be “attention-getting.” Since 2009, Chinese students became the largest portion of total international students studying in the U.S. In 2009, there were 690,923 international students in the U.S and 18.5% of the total students were from China. However, the total number of international students in the U.S incredibly rose to 886,052 last year, and the international students from China increased to even a more double number, which was 274,439, counted as 31% of total.

Since more and more Chinese students coming to the U.S for a better education, the most important questions that any school's marketing department would care are "where and what kind of schools do Chinese students want to go?" Is it a state university, private school, community college or liberal arts college? Actually, before I give you a specific answer for that question, I would like to introduce some unique cultures in China. Then, you probably could give yourself an answer.

Even though China now became the largest power of economy, its GDP per capita is only 12900 (from the World Facebook, CIA.gov) and it is still a developing country. In China, in order to show a power of a person, Chinese people usually somehow choose to show off. For example, Chinese people sometimes care about what kind of cars they drive more than what kind apartment or house they live. Because all of their friends and colleagues could see what kind of cars they own, not everyone could come to their apartment or house to visit. If in a wealth social class, what would people show off to compare? The answer would be a better car.

However, not every family would like to show off, but people still have a competitive mind. When parents could afford their kid to go study abroad, the most important thing they care would be the reputation of the school that their kid goes to. Because any Chinese child who is planning to go study abroad could be the first generation going to study abroad in the family. If the child could not graduate from a famous college in the U.S, their parents would feel disappointed and their money were not worth to be paid.

As a result, a school with a higher reputation would be the first target of Chinese students who want to study abroad in the U.S. They would not care about how the class’s quality is if there are 200 students in one class. The only thing they would care is how famous the school is unless they understand the real education system in the U.S.

In addition, most wealth families in China live in an urban areas, especially big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and etc. Because of the one child policy, Chinese kids started getting spoiled when they were little. Since their parents could afford whatever they want, they already get used to the life of urban life and they love it. Because they had never had a rough time in their life, it is a huge different from the countryside to the city. As a result, the Chinese children who are going to study in the U.S would choose the schools in urban areas first because they do not want to have a boring life if they go to a suburban areas.

The hardest thing that SMC is facing is that it is a liberal arts college and it is not located in a urban place. More importantly, because the international students from China are usually the first generation of going oversea in their family, they do not really understand the real education system in the U.S.  In my opinion, comparing to other state universities and big schools, the fundamental education, small classes with higher class quality and professors’ care would only be offered by a liberal arts college.

So what I would suggest SMC marketing department to do is to not just promote our school to overall Chinese families because we cannot convince them unless they change their minds psychologically. I was a marketer in SMC, I would narrow down my targets and shift to some Chinese families that their kids are not the first generation of studying oversea. Because those families who probably understand what a liberal arts college is and what a real fundamental education is.

 

Global e-Marketing

    This week, I still want to talk about some stories about marketing which still relates to Vermont and its local cultures, but I want to particularly talk about the relationship between the colleges in the Vermont or even the United States and international students from China.

    One day, I was unexpectedly called by a staff who is currently working at the admission office at SMC. He wants to talk about promoting SMC through some Chinese social medias on internet because Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are blocked in China.

    The first social media that I would recommend is WeChat. In China, 600 million people already registered an account for WeChat by 2013. This is the most popular app on cellphone in China, and most Chinese people are currently using it instead of sending texts and making calls. This app is more likely an app that combines Facebook, Twitter and Group Me. It adds people from your phone's contacts automatically, people can post with pictures anytime, and they also can create group's chat. In addition, this is an app allowing payment transferring, so a lot of people start doing business on WeChat.

    What is more important is that this app also allows any organization or individual person building their own public account. If WeChat is the most popular app that Chinese are using everyday, having an public account would be one of the best way to build a customer relationship better than any other social media. Because once people follow your public account in WeChat, everything you post on your public account, your follower can receive. It can be a voice message, pictures or a power point. Of course, the more valuable and interesting content you build, the more followers you can attract. This is a very typical e-marketing that we call in modern times.

    WeChat builds a new relationship between customers and product, and the sellers do not have to rent a real store, especially for those small business owned by individuals. Another advantage that WeChat offers from a view of advertising is all of your friends on WeChat know you already in real life, so you do not have to worry about word of mouth. If your post is interesting, no even your friends can share it with others through WeChat's moment (a feature like Twitter), other people who do not know you might also share it because they like your post.

    If I SMC marketing department starting to use this app  to attract more students in China, it can be a helpful and useful tool for SMC to let more people know this school through Chinese social media. If the school opens a public account, it should be no doubts that all of the Chinese student at SMC could follow it. If each Chinese student has 200 contacts on their WeChat and they would like to share some information about our school through WeChat's moment, it will be at least 6000 people starting to know this school at the first round. If anyone likes about our school among those 6000 people, it means WeChat is getting more helpful for SMC to reach its goal in China.

Vermont tourism

I went to a boarding high school in Winchendon, Massachusetts three years ago. After I decided to come to Vermont for college during my senior year in high school, many people asked me why I choose to come to Vermont. I was a little hesitate to give an answer, but I usually said it is a quiet and safe place so that I would spend more times focusing on my study, even though I know Vermont is a boring place for teenagers.

Before I went to high school in MA, I am originally from Tianjin, the fifth largest city with a population of 15 million people in China. After I came to Vermont, I often ask myself why I think Vermont is boring. Finally, I realized that Vermont “could” be a boring place especially for those teenagers, who come from a big city and get used to urban life, rather than I say Vermont “is” boring for every teenager because Vermont really has a lot of excited places waiting for younger adults to explore. At this point, I start to love Vermont because here are a lot of things that I could not even have an opportunity to do in China.

Since our class, Wilderness Photography, is cooperative with Vermont tourism, we had to listen to a presentation from Vermont Department of Tourism & Marketing. However, after this presentation, I became more interested in Vermont because that was my first time to understand Vermont further since I came here.

At the beginning of the presentation, every student believed that the field which can bring the biggest economic benefits to Vermont is tourism, but it is not at all! Medical care is actually the biggest part that benefits Vermont. Tourism is just at fifth position, so Vermont starts to devote the field of tourism in order to strengthen Vermont’s economy by developing tourism.

Mission Statement

“To promote Vermont’s travel, recreation and cultural attractions, as well as the state’s goods and services, in coordination with public and private sector partners, to a global audience, and to do so in a manner consistent with the values and traditions of the state for the economic benefit of all Vermonters.”

(from Vermont Department of Tourism & Marketing)

It is very clear to see its purpose from a marketing’s view. What Vermont currently wants is more and more travelers.

Every product has its own target markets, including tourism. Especially for tourism, it is not like a real product that every customer can buy from the market because Vermont is the “product” itself. Vermont’s primary target markets should be depended on its geography because  there are many larger cities nearby it such as New York City, Boston and Montreal, a driving range of 300-500 miles.

Obviously, the biggest advantage of Vermont is nature and outdoor activities and that is also what travelers come for. During winter times, Vermont is usually the first place for people to choose for skiing in Northeast. As we mentioned about skiing, Vermont should also have some potential international target markets such as european people who like skiing and local beers, especially travelers from Germany.

However, every product has its advantages, but it also has weak side. Vermont is definitely not the only place that people can chose for skiing in Northeast, and there are truly some huge competitors nearby it such as Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, notably NH is a tax free state.

SWOT analysis for Vermont 

Strengths: •Natural beauty

•Quality products

•Food & beverage scene

•Variety of activities

•Uncrowded/low traffic

•Within driving distance

Weaknesses: •Cell coverage

•Lack of nightlife

•Lack of transportation options

Opportunities: •Lower gas prices

•Canadian pass-through (1.5 million crossings/year)

•Emerging markets: China, Australia

Threats: •Climate change

•NE competition

•Lack of Tourism funding

•Aging population

•Weather

•People are time-starved

(information from Vermont Department of Tourism & Marketing)

The Changes in Vermont Tourism's Website

The first time that I knew about Vermont tourism was when I was a first-year student at Saint Michael’s College, which is located in Colchester, Vermont. Because I like hiking and I know there are a lot of sources for hikers in Vermont, I went to Vermont State Parks’ website to check where I should go for hiking. The website was not very interesting to me because it was in an “old fashion” style, and I did not that much time browsing the website. 

However, the second time that I heard about Vermont tourism was in my Wildness Photography class. My professor told us that Vermont Tourism established a new website that specifically focus on travelers coming to visit Vermont. Vermont tourism also renamed their website as “Vermont Vacation.” 

This new website is very attracted because it uses a lot of effective pictures to catch audience's eyes and attentions. To have absorbing pictures for a tourism website is very important. When I first opened this web, I was trying to look all of the pictures first and then checked the information. Some people might not have been to Vermont or have any experience of adventure before, but they might start getting interested after they saw those beautiful pictures. 

Another great thing about this new site is that the home page has a lot of signature’s activities in Vermont. That is exactly what people are looking for when they travel to Vermont. Secondly, I really like the pages of “things to do” and “town & regions,” especially it divided by fours seasons in “things to do.” Since the fours seasons are very contrasting in Vermont, it is good to let our tourists know that skiing is not the only thing they could do in Vermont. Nevertheless, when I was browsing the old Vermont tourism’s old website a year ago, I did not even want to spend much time on it.

The old website

The old website's link: http://www.vtstateparks.com/

The new website

The new website's link: https://vermontvacation.com/

I can tell that Vermont tourism spent a lot of time on its new site, and this website did a really good job on visual attraction. The homepage actually gives people enough information to explore. If I were a tourist to Vermont and opened the homepage, the activities in homepage would be the first things I am looking for. That is exactly what a travel needs and wants. 

In addition, this website is easy to navigate for me because there are not a lot of options on the top bar of the interface and there are only four sections. When I was browsing this website, I also felt that my attention and direction were lead by those pictures. For people who have not been to Vermont, the pictures are the only way to communicate with them and convince their eyes. In my view, these pictures are properly used to deliver the information. 

I think the website is designed very well because it really looks like Apple’s official website, a big picture with couple words of explanation. Personally, when I am browsing a website, I wish the website could be as simple or clear as possible. The picture itself could give me enough assumption and information without a lot of explanation.

The website's top bar

The website also did a good job on customer-managed relationship that means the officials built a relationship with customers via today’s digital medias and interact each other. What social medias this site uses are Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest and Twitter, which already has 18.5k followers. 

Additionally, whatever people are doing in modern times, we like using electronic devices to do anything such as navigating, checking restaurants nearby, shopping, watching games and etc. I also tried to open this site on my cellphone and tablet, and it just fits more on the cellphone and tablet and becomes easier to browse.

How to socialize with Vermont Vacation