Apples

 It never fails that when I'm in a large group of people, you hear that one ringtone or notification sound, and 95% of them are looking down at their phones to see if it was theirs. I always wonder why EVERYONE I see has an iPhone. When it came out, I figure it took off because of the previous devices they had with the Mac computer & iPod. It's a simple phone, the settings and apps are easy to figure out. I can see why most of the world likes them. They make connecting way easier in so many ways. I don't own one because I do not like to blend in with the crowd, I like to do my own thing. Plus, you can do SO MUCH more with any other phone but an iPhone. You just got to know how to do it. Although I can see why so many people are won over by iPhone. They constantly change, even if it's a simple feature like you can press a new button to turn the camera on. Every year they come out with a new phone, a new update to the software, and it sky rockets in price from anticipation and hype. They listen to their market, and put forth their demands they want in a phone. They advertise, hype up something new like crazy, and they get their moneys worth, even if the change is a bigger screen or a new way to unlock your phone. They keep it fresh, and slowly win the whole world over.

Competition

I know I use my job as a reference most of the time, but working retail, and being a manager in the field helps and exposes you quite a bit to how things work in marketing. They are starting construction on our only competition, right across the road from us. Although it is not finished, and will not be for a while, we have noticed that customers have been bringing in coupons from our competition that they thought was from us. The place isn't even built yet, but they are sending out coupons, and letting the public know that they are coming. There is a big pretty sign out by the road stating that they are coming, and it's even been advertised in the newspaper. We certainly hear the most of it. Their best way of reaching out to the public, advertising, sending out coupons, is our worse enemy. Although we have few customers state that they will always stay loyal to our name, we hear most say " I can't wait for that other store to open". The building for the store isn't even built, yet it seems that they are already one step ahead of us. They know the market they need to reach out to, and the advertisement and deals are too good to resist. That's what marketing can do for you. Hopefully I won't be out of a job within the next few months!

From Experience

Working in a pet retail store, I've learned a lot about marketing and what it can do for a product or service. If you put it out there, hype it up, make it look fancy and nice, people will buy and demand like hot cakes, no matter the quality. For instance: our dog food line. We sell many different types and brands of dog food. I won't name any for legal purposes, but some are very high in quality, and some are not. Of course, there are some brands that are obviously generic, and will not be high in price. But some dog foods may be priced the same, yet people have no idea what quality they are getting. You see, the dog foods that are on commercials, being talked about by everyone, having coupons in the local paper or sent in emails, that is the dog food everyone comes in and buys. In all actuality, a lot (not all) of brands you see advertised through media are very low quality foods. 1 and 2 stars out of 5 to be exact. We always inform our customers of what they are feeding their dogs, and that we carry higher quality, 5 star brands that are better than any grocery brand, or heavily advertised brand. We convert most to the better quality foods, although there are plenty of those who are dead set on what the TV or newspaper says. The moral to the story is that if you put a product out there, choose your market, and promote, you will more than likely have great success in a product or service.