My paper is going to talk about the ways marketing and promoting work together to help make a business successful. The marketing strategies of companies focus on satisfying customers needs and wants. A campaign that Microsoft is rumored on trying for there worldwide launch of the XBOX 360 the week of Thanksgiving is a risky one to say the least. The strategy for Microsoft is to have a XBOX 360 shortage across the world so retailers will advertise “sold out” at the end of launch day. First, widespread sellouts would create the appearance that the console is so popular that retailers can’t keep it in stock. And actually, it wouldn’t be an appearance, as it would technically be true. Then the media would pick up on the shortages, generating even more buzz about the console and giving it more free publicity. (Gamespot, par. 2) Being a consumer I do not like this strategy because I am one of the lucky ones who preordered a XBOX 360, but for the people who are walk-ins and can’t get one because Microsoft may purposely be doing this I think is not fair to there loyal customers. Pricing a product at which to sell it is often a balancing act. Both low and high price strategies can be effective in different situations. A high price usually limits market size, but increases profits per unit. Low prices generally lead to larger sales volumes. A company like Publix who has more grocery stores scattered throughout the city can afford to charge higher prices and still come out with a positive gross. Wal-Mart on the other hand usually has less stores in a general area and there prices most of the time are cheaper then your local grocery store. A customer is quoted from a website saying that “local Wal-Marts have gotten a bad rap for bullying tactics in discouraging unionization, but face it, with no income at the moment; I can not afford to shop at the other places.” (Kevin, article 3). Although the marketability of some products is geographically sensitive , others enjoy nearly universal acceptance. (Griffin and Ebert, pg. 286) Coke does more than 70 percent of its sales in international markets. Pepsi’s sales are only about 15 percent of Coke’s internationally and they usually are not the competition. In most countries it is some kind of local soft drink. Pepsi does most of there business in the US with 78%. Marketing your product is one thing, but without promoting it nobody would know if it even existed. Dell is a unique company that started off with one person and over the years has grown to thousands of employees. Dell still does not sell there products in retail stores, but they are one of the top selling computer companies in the world. They use advertising and promoting there products to there advantage to attract new customers. You can find Dell ads in magazines, on television, direct mail, internet, and kiosks in shopping malls. The government is also a major customer for Dell who receives millions of dollars a year from them. Virtual advertising has been become more and more popular over the years. The technology implants brands or products into live or taped programming, giving the illusion that the implant is part of the show. When you watch sporting events now on TV you see these digital signs that change every few seconds advertising everything from video games to clothing. Movies are great for using this technology as well. You will see scenes when the camera zooms in on logos like Sprint, Sony, or even a Gap shopping bag on the table.
A combination of other media, including catalogs, sidewalk handouts, Yellow Pages, skywriting, telephone calls, special events, and door-to-door communication, make up the remaining 22 percent of all US advertising. (Griffin and Ebert, pg. 372) The global perspective directs marketing toward a worldwide rather than local or regionally. Maintaining separate marketing for each country is very important to selling your products. The four factors that make global advertising a challenging proposition are: product variations, language differences, cultural receptiveness, and image differences. Many companies decide not to go global because it can be really expensive to follow these factors. Sony is a good example of a company that is well respected all over the world. Ford is not, but of course it is well known in the US. In conclusion, marketing and promoting your product successfully can be the deciding factor if your company is going to survive in this tough business world. There are so many options to consider before you decide if you want to stay local, go national, or take the big chance of going globally.

Bibliography Cited Sources

Gamespot. “Is the XBOX 360 shortage deliberate?” Nov. 2005 http://www.gamespot.com/news/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=23907002

Kevin “Experimental II” 9 Nov. 2005 http://www.alwayslowprices.net