Burlington, Burritos, and Burton

Burlington, Burton, and burritos!  I want to show and make marketing a little more fun and less by the book by I sharing a more about where I am and what I'm doing right now and how it relates to marketing.  So let's start off with where I am. As I previously mentioned, I am currently living in Colchester, VT (right outside of Burlington) and am attending Saint Michael's College (SMC:) ) Burlington and SMC are two extremely unique places, but are both relatively small. Burlington is the largest city in Vermont, which may seem comical to some when compared to the size of other cities in other states. SMC is a small,catholic, liberal arts college. Despite the size of this city and college, both know how to emphasize their differences and make a name for themselves and yes this is largely due to marketing!

      

       Saint Mike's markets itself as a small, liberal arts, catholic institution, which is what it is, but it also emphasizes community. A lot of colleges and universities, both big and small, emphasize "their sense of community," but Saint Mike's really makes it a priority. The phrase they use a lot in their advertisements, pamphlets, etc. "I Like St. Mike's" really hits home and reflects the overall feeling of the student body. They play up and market their small size as an advantage and not a weakness. Smaller class sizes, more one-on-one time with professors, and easily formed study groups are all factors that my school makes sure to point out and drive home through marketing.     
  

You can find out a lot more information and better details about how Saint Mike's markets themselves at the link provided below.  Following this link will show examples of target markets, segmentation, the marketing mix, and the 4 Ps (all which have been mentioned in previous blog posts!).

http://www.smcvt.edu/On-Campus/Offices-and-Services/Marketing-and-Communication.aspx

Saint Mike's also uses many different sources of social media. Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are three big ones that students love. Being able to Tweet questions to the school, cute pages like Saint Michael's Crushes, and the amazing Instagram page filled with pictures taken by students are popular among campus. The images above are some from the SMC Instagram page, which you should definitely take a look at! (SMC Instagram!)

Burlington!
       For a small town in Vermont, Burlington has really made a name for itself.  It is not just the scenic area that has done this, but also the unique businesses that fill this town. I have been living in this area for three years and keep discovering new places to go or events every weekend. This is a place where marketing and specifically promotion thrives.

There are a lot of restaurants and places that offer food services so one would think there would be a lot of competition. Although this may be true, the more I learn about marketing and segmentation the more I question this. Many of the restaurants that are in this town are vastly different. They market themselves in a way where their differences appeal to and/or are aimed at different target markets, which would help avoid competition to a point.   

Burritos!
A place to eat in town on the famous Church St. that does a great job with marketing is Boloco (Boston Local Co.).  Their means of promotion highlights concepts I have learned in my marketing class so far.  They have many different means of promotion, but here are just the ones I have encountered first hand from being a customer...

• Student discounts
• Free birthday burrito
• Use of social media
• Emphasis on fresh ingredients
• Focus on quality
• Reusable and recycable materials
• Highlights their mission statement 
• Being green and sustainable is a very popular movement and cause in the area

People respond really well to Boloco and I have seen that it is a popular place. This shows that they are doing something right with their marketing tactics and strategy and are reeling in their target market and working the 4 Ps. It also doesn't hurt that they have great burritos!

Burton!
Food and restaurants aren't the only types of businesses that thrive in Burlington. An extremely successful company that was founded and is based right here in Burlington, VT is Burton. Burton is known globally for their snowboards, winter/snowboarding gear, and have branched out to regular clothing and accessories. They have a line for men, women, and youth. Their use of social media in marketing is personally one of my favorites from any company. The videos they put out on Youtube are not only illustrate some of the marketing that goes on within the company, but also is amazing at showcasing their products. This is one of my favorites at the moment...called "The Teaser."

I think Burton is a great example of one of those unique companies that has and is continuously focused on their marketing tactics. The effort they put in is clearly reflected in what they do. They have a distinct and unique brand and definitely have brand loyal customers. I'm not even a snowboarder, but a skier and have certain products from Burton that I love and wouldn't get anywhere else.

Divide and Conquer!

"In marketing I've seen only one strategy that can't miss - and that is to market to your best customers first, your best prospects second and the rest of the world last."

  -John Romero (Video game designer; DOOM and founder of iD Software)    

       Let's pretend you are putting a product out on the market! You want EVERYONE to buy your product. So you work with a marketing team and decide to target your product to everyone. In an ideal world this is how marketing would work; target a product to everyone and in turn have everyone respond and buy your product. However, this is not the proper way to market or how the market and customers will respond. A key factor in fixing this marketing dilemma is to use market segmentation.
       Market segmentation is the dividing up of potential consumers into groups that "have common needs and will respond in a similar way to marketing actions." (Kerin, 220) Doing this not only will help increase the potential success of your product, but it also helps get a better idea and narrow down a target market. The target market is necessary because it is just not realistic to market to every consumer and be successful.

There are specific steps in segmenting and targeting a market. These steps are...
1) Grouping potential consumers into segments
2) Grouping the products that are to be sold on the market into categories
3) Developing a market-product grid and estimating the size of the market
4) Selecting target markets
5) Taking marketing actions to reach out to the target markets

For step one there are four basis of segmentation that make this step more successful. Grouping potential consumers into segments based on geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral variables can do wonders for market segmentation and finding a target market! (Kerin, 225)

Let's take a closer look at the 4 basis of segmentation... 
There are many variables that can factor into these different parts of segmentation as well. Here are some questions that might aid one in segmenting based off of these different variables.
Geographic

• Does the potential customer live in a city or rural area?
• What is the population/ size of their living location?
• What is the weather like where they live? 

Demographic

• How old is the person?
• What gender are they?
• What is their race and/or ethnicity?
• What year were they born or what generation are they?
• For example: Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y, Millenials
• Are they married?
• What do they do for a living?
• How educated are they?
• What is their income?

Psychographic

• What type of personality does this person have?
• What do they value?
• What do they need?
• For example: quality, low price, ease of purchase

Behavioral 

• What type of store do they generally shop at?
• How do they hear about a product/ main sources of advertising?
• What do they look for in a product?
• How often would they use/repurchase the product?
• How much do they know about the product

Proper segmenting and targeting to a specific market is key. There is a concept in marketing called the 80/20 Rule.
This rule states that 80% of sales are obtained through only 20% of consumers. If this is true in most cases, it illustrated the importance of segmenting, targeting, and finding that 20% of consumers that are going to use your product a lot and at some point hopefully become brand loyal.
(Kerin, 227)



Below is an image that illustrates step three of the segmenting and targeting process. It segments both the consumers (vertical column) as well as the products (horizontal row) and then places them on a grid to compare and get an idea at who is using what product, which will help narrow and segment even further in the future. This specific example deals with the line of Apple products.

When it comes time to select a target market after some segmenting there are also factors that need to be taken into consideration. One can't necessarily just choose their favorite target market or even the one that looks the best because sometimes there are constraints and limitations. Factors that should be considered in making this decision are...

• Market size
• Is the market too small to even be worth targeting?
• Is the market too large to focus on and reach?
• Expected Growth
• Is there expected growth in reaching out to this target market?
• Is there potential to expand?
• Does it look like your product will just fizzle?
• Competition
• Is there too much competition within the market you are looking to target?
• Is it worth it to try to beat out the competition?
• If you enter this market and/or segment is there expected to be competition in the future?
• Cost
• Is the cost too high to reach out to this target market?
• Resources
• Do you have the resources to serve this target market?
• You can have all the best ideas and advertisements in the world, but if you do not have the physical resources or manpower to serve and meet needs there will not be success.

Once all is said and done and a target market is chosen then it is time to reach out to them using the marketing mix and 4 Ps (Blog post #1 "Marketing: It's more than just ads. It's a mix."). Evaluating the best place, product, price, and sources of promotion after segmenting and targeting will be so much more beneficial than just throwing your product out on the market and trying to get everyone and anyone to buy it.  It is all about narrowing and tailoring as well as dividing and conquering!


If you want to know more I would highly recommend reading this blog post about market segmentation linked HERE! It was interesting, informative, and an enjoyable read so I would check it out!

Cited
Kerin, Roger A., Steven William. Hartley, and William Rudelius. Marketing. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2004