In response to Christine's Post...

Question: Do you think too much of consumers money is spent on marketing?

It surprised me to hear that 50-60% of a buyer's dollar goes to marketing costs because it seems like a high percentage. However, marketing is a huge part of selling a product or service. In order to spike a consumer's interest sometimes it takes a lot of marketing. I think the amount of marketing efforts a product or service needs really depends on what it is and the societal need of that good/service. If something isn't well known than consumers are less likely to spend their money on it. So, yes I do think sometimes too much of consumer's money is spent on marketing if the product or service is already popular enough and already has a good reputation. But if that product/service needs a lot of advertising and marketing in order to be profitable than it makes sense that over half of the consumer's dollar goes to marketing.

*Is it practical for over 50% of a consumer's dollar to go towards marketing efforts?

Think of yourself as "product"

Marketing a product takes a lot of preparation and planning. In order to market a product to a potential employer the three P's (place, promotion and price) have to be taken into account and integrated into the task. First, the product has to be at a convenient place and factors such as the cost included in the placement, how effective and efficient the product can be transported and how much inventory can fit there. To promote the product the process includes setting up effective advertising, sales promotion, the people who will be in charge of the publicity and the overall costs of each part of product promotion. Another important part would be to compare the product with similar existing products to figure out the price of the product. Included in the price would be the selling price, the possible discount price or rebates, the payment period and credit terms, and again the overall costs of figuring that all out.

*Which one of the three P's is the most important?

Marketing vs. Propaganda vs. Advertising

In my opinion, both marketing and propaganda are somewhat associated with advertising. Advertising has to do with spreading the word about a specific product or service to the public through several types of media and print. When a company promotes their products to consumers through advertising it directly connects to marketing. I believe marketing is when a business/company puts ideas together to target a group of people who are interested in selling or buying their product. On the other hand, I think propaganda sometimes includes advertising but essentially the idea is to persuade people to believe in the message or mindset they are portraying even if they are falsifying information to do so.

*Do you think propaganda is always negative?