Week 9 Reading Reflection

One aspect of this chapter that I found incredibly interesting was table 10.4. It breaks down the changing purchases and priorities of consumers throughout their various life stages. For example a 20 year old is more apt to purchase furniture than a sole survivor who has a focus on healthcare and security oriented products. I can understand how breaking down the consumer by age can be an insightful tool for a business.

With the amount of marketing knowledge I have from other marketing courses, this chapter was pretty easy to comprehend and seemed more like a review of marketing terminology as opposed to confusing concepts. The author presented the information in an easy to follow format and explained concepts in great detail.

One of my questions relates to the quantitative and qualitative section in the text. As a new business startup, which type of information tends to be more useful? Having a lot of responses can help shape your business and give a proof of concept but I feel like sometimes it can be impersonal and unhelpful. On the other hand I feel like qualitative research can give much deeper responses and thought. Which would be more beneficial to the entrepreneur?

My other question involves the utilization of social media marketing. Social media is something that has really taken off in recent years and I would like to know if there is a concrete way to measure social media driven sales. I feel as though as a consumer I have been exposed to more companies because of social media marketing but if I go and purchase their product how do they know their social media marketing is to thank for my purchase?

Surprisingly, not really, there is nothing that I found to be incorrect in this chapter from the text. The information is presented well and the author uses a wealth of resources to prove his point. Marketing challenges in entrepreneurship seem to be straightforward and understandable.