Marketing Interview

Marketing Interview
Marketing 551
Michael VanPatten
June 16, 2003


The marketplace today has proven to be a treacherous area for both large and small companies. Customers have more options for similar products and services than ever before. Not only can consumers rely on traditional options to buy and compare, but also with the advent of the Internet they have even more power over companies to dictate price and control. This has led companies to increase spending on advertising through both “hard” methods such as direct mail and telemarketing as well as using newer, “softer” approaches such as using the Internet. It has been estimated that the combined total for advertising spending was well above $117 billion dollars (Almquist & Hall, 2002).
Large companies have a variety of tools at their disposal to get an idea of what is needed to attract consumers. They can rely on marketing departments and automated systems that can make it easy for them to target a specific cons...