Shakeel Siddiqi’s Marketing Blog

The power of nostalgia at least for me is profound. I can fondly remember what I used to do as a kid and it brings back such deep feelings that life was so much simpler back then. Nostalgia can also be a great marketing tool. A study done by the Journal of Consumer Research says that when someone thinks about the past or feels nostalgic, he or she is more likely to spend money on or donate to a cause. If you really think about it, this happens to people all the time. What used to be old is starting to become new again. Marketers are even trying to bring millennial's nostalgic experiences because they are so hard to impress. Companies are experimenting with this type of nostalgia because they know that these experiences will make people feel the need to buy their product. Any kind of experience like when a company brings consumers nostalgia about a TV show from the 90's or toys that they used to play with can bring in the money. A campaign that allows consumers to engage in a pe...

Promotion refers to any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or issue. It is a short term marketing strategy that is meant to increase sales through the use of customer incentives. It motivates consumers to buy your product or service immediately. Promotion is more focused on building sales in the short term than brand building. There are two types of promotion used: above the line promotion and below the line promotion. Above the line promotion is carried out using mass media like television, newspapers, or radio. Below the line promotion uses non media methods like direct mail, email, sales promotion, and public relations. Promotion is cost efficient for increasing sales for smaller businesses. Small businesses can easily organize several short term promotions resulting in immediate gains. Sometimes medium to large companies will use promotions as part of their large advertising campaigns. Pro...

The marketing strategy for Cryptobloc seems pretty straightforward but they still have things that they’re trying to do. Cryptobloc is pretty much a place where a person can organize all their crypto currency in one area. It also has a feature that allows users to allow a bot to perform trades on their behalf. It also has an easy way for users to file their taxes and feel like they’re doing everything properly when it comes to their crypto currencies. It has bookkeeping and transaction history reports that can easily be made into the IRS forms needed to file their crypto currency taxes. The main reason Cryptobloc came to be was because it was hard for people who had crypto currency to file their taxes. I think their target market is people who want help organizing their crypto currency so that they can file their taxes with ease. I also think that they’re targeting people who are interested in crypto currency but don’t have too much time to trade it and be knowledgeable enough to make ...

Since the beginning of time humans have communicated best through images so it’s obvious that humans like content with visuals. Marketing is all about providing visuals that are engaging and interesting. Most consumers prefer great visuals to get them to go buy a product or use a service. A good visual should compliment your material and support the points you’re trying to make. An image should not be used to just fill space, it has to be useful. A company should also try to use images that reflect their brand or can be connected to their brand in some way. If a consumer can also see another person using a product then they also might see themselves using that product too. Images that can relate to a consumer are always a key to get through to them. Images are powerful motivators that can encourage consumers to engage with your content. A company that knows how and which visuals help accomplish their goals will surely be successful. It means that they know what they’re doing and what w...

Multichannel marketing is the process of marketing to your customers in different forms whether it be in a newspaper, on Facebook, or in a YouTube video, etc. There are many channels a company can market to consumers but it has to be done correctly. Messaging of course has to relevant to people so it’s not always about which platform a company uses to reach out. The marketing campaign also needs to make sense and should not be disjointed. A company also has to know what channel of marketing is bringing the best results and maybe put a bit more into that channel than others to take advantage of it. The key to successful multi channel marketing is to pay attention to the customer’s value and how they interact with your brand. The next thing is to use existing marketing channels and use new ones when they emerge. It’s best to create a campaign that can work across many marketing channels. The customer experience across different marketing channels should be excellent so that you can ...

Product planning and management is a central component of marketing because it’s a narrowing down process that could lead to success. Sometimes there could be a perceived gap in the market and consumers want a new product that can fulfill their needs. This is when product planning and management comes into the picture. The product needs to be desirable and be unique enough that it satisfies the consumer or else it will fail. If the product is feasible and can be created then the product planning and management phase can be put into high gear. The most important aspects of the product planning and management stage that I saw are as follows. Concept development is something I thought was important because a company can start getting feedback from consumers who can use a prototype of the product they are trying to sell. This can help a company figure out what the consumers want improved and what is missing in the product prototype. The second aspect I thought was important is the marketi...