Know-How Exchange : Student Questions

I have decided on the topic of marketing within the music industry as it is an area in which i am very interested, from here I have simply focused down into the marketing area in which i feel most confident and achieved my best marks, maybe you could choose in the same way?

For me this was Relationship Marketing and so i am hoping to look into how marketing can help build relationships between artists and customers and the benefits/problems this can create.

How specific are you making your dissertation? For example if you choose 'How does Branding affect consumer purchasing decisions?' are you going to focus on the effets in a certain industry/specific brand or look more at Branding in general?

I ask because if you are going to be more focused and less broad the it may help to first pick an industry/brand/company/hobby/interest and then see which of your chosen marketing areas would give you the most interesting analysis.

For example if you really like the Apple brand or can find a lot of information about them then you could use that company as a staring point and then have a quick brainstorm about how green the company is/the effect of brand on purchasing/ their relationship with comsumers and the effect of technolgy on the company.

From this you could then see which provided the most interesting discussion and choose that as your topic.

I feel this is a better way of choosing a topic than looking for other peoples opinions on choosing as the choices of others will be based on their own experiences and knowledge base and so consequently will not necessarily equate to that area suiting you as much as it would them.

Sorry for this pretty long-winded reply!! :-)

P.S If you are looking for suggestions for which to choose I am more than happy to help

P.P.S I am at university in the U.K

Hi Steve

As you work there I think Tesco would be a really good company ot base your dissertation on - you will have a feel for the company and experience of how the business works plus you are well positioned to look at many aspects of the busness such as by talking to customers, staff and managers.

Plus Tesco's website is extremely helpful with regards to information and details about the company. It is one of the most useful company websites and always highly recommended by our tutors at uni.

A couple of quick ideas about aspects to look at with each of your possible topics:

'HOW DOES BRANDING AFFECT CONSUMER PURCHASING DECISIONS':

- Tesco brand and evolution of brand from just grocery stores to places you can get everything)
- What the Tesoc brand means and how it has evolved
- the outcry when Tesco first tried to sell Levi's jeans and the Brand was deemed unsuitable to sell them
- Tesco uses many different types of branding to cater for different consumer types (Tesco Value/Tesco Finest etc)
- how these different brands convey and fulfill different needs and wants
- these different brand types give Tesco a wider range of customer types and also allows customers to upgrade/demote brands within the same store so that they dont lose their custom

GREEN MARKETING & Would any component of Packaging influence the buyers behaviour

- study of Tesco packaging
- how it compares to academic/environmental recommmendations
- whether the recession has dampened customers feeling towards Green Marketing
- Is it possible for Tesco to be green and still remain competitive
- Can Green Packaging become a useful marketing tool for Tesco
- Which customer typesare most concerned with Green marketing
- Are Tesco customers concerned with Green marketing
- Is there new market potential/growth with green marketing?

IS RELATIONSHIP MARKETING WORKING AT TESCO?

- Does tesco have a relationship with its customers?
- What percentage of customers are considered loyal?
- benefits vs cost of increasing loyalty and relationships
- the genius and benefits/downfalls of the Loyalty card
- relationships between customers and staff/managers/brand


Personally I would choose to look at relationship marketing at Tesco as i think that that is a strong area for the company and there is a lot of different and interesting relationships to consider there. I even think the loyalty card has been Tesco's strongest weapon in recent years helping them collect vast amounts of data about customers and their behaviour, benefiting future marketing and also large profits from selling the data on to other companies


Again apologies if long-winded or incoherent - I type a lot slower than I think of things to say

Paul

Hey Steve

Haven't got MSN sorry mate, but email address is [Email address deleted by staff] if you ever need to get in touch.

I agree that basing your dissertation around students is a good idea and I will be doing the same for mine. As you say, it will make it easier and quicker to collect data.