Articles Oct 7

http://www.entrepreneur.com/marketing/article203590.html

The article, “Adding Value: The Future of Marketing,” by Bob GilBreath, provides excellent insight to what the best marketing practices of business are and will be. Gilbreath begins by discussing the current issues we face with marketing. He references Tom Cruise in Minority Report and how says that is seems as if marketing will revolve around “the technology that marketers will use to better target customers and grab their attention.” This is a very good point, but he suggests better methods that have been and will be effective.

His main message is to have a marketing plan with meaning. “Going forward, businesses must succumb to the power of the consumer. Instead of interrupting their day with ads, advertisers must create something customers will choose to engage with. We must create marketing that adds value to people’s lives.”

I might use this when I start my own company. This is extremely important to student entrepreneurs because it supports the idea that spending money on creating awareness through ads isn’t as effective as spending time on making marketing valuable. Students usually have a lot more time than money.

Gilbreath has a very good point about “marketing with meaning,” but he undervalues the importance of creating awareness. This could be a flaw with his article. I think creating awareness and bringing traffic to other useful methods of marketing will be just as effective. “Marketing with meaning” will lose its purpose if you are lacking traffic to your website or if people aren’t aware.

This article mainly focuses on making marketing more meaningful, but ignores the importance of boosting traffic. Gilbreath has various suggestions on how people should make ads more interactive and consumer centric. He ignores the fact that you need an audience for your ads.



 
http://www.entrepreneur.com/money/columnistbillbartmann/article203410.html

The article “When It Feels Wrong to Be Right,” by Bill Bartmann provides various rules to how to run a business effectively. These rules include:

Rule No. 1: Don't succumb to 'surface logic.'
Rule No. 2: Thicken your skin.
Rule No. 3: Sometimes it feels wrong because it is wrong.
Rule No. 4: Trust your brain, not your gut.

This advice is useful and helps me see the mistakes made by many entrepreneurs. Bartmann really emphasizes the importance of using your brain instead of following that particular feeling.

I might use this advice in the future with my own company or when I am trying to identify an excellent opportunity. These rules are great ideas that provide a guidance to identify potential problems. His rules are to the point and reveal obvious concepts that we all fail to understand or utilize. I will be able to do this.

Many of these rules aren’t always applicable and sometimes the exact opposite is true. When people are being rushed, surface logic is extremely useful for decision making. Eventually we will all have to make decisions off of his concept of ‘surface logic.’ Also, listening to the advice of others is very helpful. This is helpful when people have made the same mistakes you are going to make. He discusses different issues about ethics, but there are many definitions on ethics that he doesn’t consider. I find it extremely helpful to trust in my gut sometimes because of a lack of information.

He ignores various factors that matter in the lives of entrepreneurs every day. Some of the factors are the amount of time, amount of resources available and the importance of the decision. These factors play critical roles in making every day decisions and impact our results. They are also restrictions that downplay a lot of his methodology.