Earned media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Earned media - Essay Example Earned media are used by a large number of companies to promote their brand. The best and most favorite thing about earned media is that it's cost free. Earned media can help promote a project by taking in the most little effort. (Ransom, 2012) There are several ways in which earned media can be used effectively. On Facebook, a page of the product can be made. In this way, people will get to know more about the product and how great it works. Moreover, there can be quizzes functioned by the product. People will find it interesting to share it on their profiles. These quizzes can reflect their personalities, so their friends will be looking at them too. Furthermore, an account on Snapchat will be able to post updates regarding the product on daily basis. This will provide the customers a chance to know about the new updates about the product and their new prices as well. An application can also be made. This application will provide the latest updates regarding the Uber company. The application can be readily available on play store so that android and ios users can easily download it. The application will be downloaded free of cost. Uber company can also provide daily horoscope. This will attract a large number of people as people are curious to know more about themselves. People might even share it with their friends. In this way, the friends will not only know about the horoscope but will also get to know about the company. Ransom, V. (2012). 3 Easy Ways to Grow Earned Media. Mashable.

Interpretative Reading in Thailand Essay Example for Free

Interpretative Reading in Thailand Essay Introduction Interpretative reading can be defined as the analysis of literary texts and subsequent enunciation of those texts. It is also sometimes called dramatic reading and relies on the reader’s voice to convey the emotion, drama and imagery of a narrative without actually acting it out. A good interpretative reader must possess a number of vocal skills such as the ability to control vocal tone, volume, pace and inflection to accurately communicate meaning and build drama. In addition to clear articulation and correct pronunciation, which are paramount to the audience’s understanding, the reader must have an in depth understanding of the text in order to produce a meaningful interpretation of it. In other words the narrator needs to be able to know the characters, imagine their backgrounds and feel their emotions to be believable. Good interpretive reading is a difficult skill even for native speakers to master and takes preparation and plenty of practice; however, for a student in the Thai education system faces a number of distinct disadvantages in becoming a proficient interpretative reader. To begin with the languages of Thai and English are very different. We have different stress patterns on words and there are sounds in English which don’t exist in Thai, both of which make clear pronunciation challenging for students and although many Thai schools now employ native speaking English teachers who are able to model correct pronunciation and natural rhythm, lots of Thai students lack confidence and have little opportunity to practice English outside of their classroom. In addition, English uses intonation to convey different meanings and emotions whereas Thai uses a fixed tone for each word so it is often hard for a Thai student to express emotions like sarcasm or disbelief through inflection even when they recognize the need to do so. Another barrier for many Thai students, aside from the enunciation, is actually understanding the text well enough to interpret it. This depends upon, not only the student’s knowledge of English language and ability to follow the plot but also on previous personal, educational and cultural experience that influence the way the narrative is interpreted. A student lacking exposure to western culture and a deeper understanding of the social norms, stereotypes and cultural issues surrounding a text might struggle with a credible portrayal of characters and personation. These factors coupled with a general lack of focus on key reading skills leave Thai students at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to dramatic reading abilities. So, how do we assess the state of Thai interpretive reading? Do we take into account the many disadvantages that Thai students face in learning to read expressively and if so what criteria is it fair to judge them on? After some research into the rubric schools overseas use to evaluate students’ interpretive reading skills we decided to base our assessment on the following criteria:- Pace. The speed at which a reader speaks, increasing speed creates drama and intensity. Pause. The lingering of the voice on, before or after a word for dramatic effect. Volume. Adds emphasis or fullness of tone. It can be used with other forms of emphasis to exaggerate emphasis. Melody. The wave-like change in voice pitch depends on the reader recognizing the relative importance of words in the text. Inflection. The bending of the voice from the main pitch up or down. Personation. The reader’s interpretation of the character. Pitch. The degree of highness or lowness to a tone adds more subtle emphasis. Confidence. How comfortable is the speaker with reading aloud the text. The readers pace, volume and use of pause are techniques that can be used to emphasize mood or add drama but in the case of a non native speaker an overly loud or quiet reading could be due to nervousness and a pause or change in pace could be due to not understanding a word or not knowing how to pronounce it. These things, in turn, can affect the other factors we will be evaluating. With this in mind we will be focusing on the deviations from normal patterns in each of these categories and trying to find any correlations. Conducting the research and investigation To better understand how well a Thai may use the techniques associated with interpretative reading we needed to hear some examples. We selected a number of Thai students to read a set part of a chapter from a book and recorded them to analyse their interpretative reading skills. The material chosen was chapter one from ‘The Monkey King’ a stage one young reader by Rosie Dickins. The chapter was broken into 5 separate parts for the students to read. The level one reader was chosen to accommodate all students and focus on their reading skills rather than their comprehension of the text. The students’ ages and levels of English ranged from, six to eighteen years old, and Beginner to Advanced. By having such a wide range of readers we will be able to see if there are any reoccurring problems across all levels and ages or if there are any surprising results. Before the students were recorded they were each given different parts of the chapter to familiarise themselves with what they were going to read. This is to again focus on their interpretation of the text and to let them question any pronunciation of any unfamiliar words. In addition to that when the text was handed to the students, it was explained to them that they have to read it as if they were telling a story to someone, and they do not want this person to fall asleep. Also, an example of interpretative reading of a text, other than their own, was then given to the students to make sure that they fully understood what they had to do. To do good interpretative reading, the text has to be fully understood, it is the key for good reading, so all the parts that they did not understand was read to them and explained again before they did the task. Some of the younger students did not really understand how to read the text like they were telling a story, so some parts of the text was read to them showing the change in voice pitch and intonation, as one would do for interpretive reading. They then caught on to what was needed. The most difficult part was that many of the younger ones were nervous and shy, which is normal for some children who have to read text which is not in their native language. They were mostly nervous because of being placed in front of a laptop computer, and about their pronunciation. It was made clear to them that pronunciation was not the point of the research and that it was not a big deal if they did make some mistakes, but that the most important thing was the way they interpret the text, and that it has to be understood. It was noticed that they did understand it since they all wrote some Thai notes on the text which seemed to be translations. Then, finally it was for them to forget their nerves and read the text. The students were then recorded reading their parts which were later analysed, considering the younger students reading level, they did quite well. Analysing the results Once we had the recordings of the brave students that took part in our research, the analysis could be carried out. We went through the recordings with a fine toothcomb, and complied the results into a chart. In this chart, as can be seen in fig. 1. 2, the students were rated on their performance. They were judged on numerous criteria which include melody, speed, volume, pauses, inflection, personation, pitch and confidence. These eight criteria were marked as poor, fair, good, very good or excellent. We took into account their age group and reading skill level when judging them. Once the chart was completed, the graphs were made to clearly show which of the students’ skills were strong and which skills were weak (fig. 2. 1 – 2. 8). On the whole they performed better than expected, although there were obvious inflections, changes of pitch in odd places that Thais often make mistakes with when interpretive reading. We had spoken about this before the experiment had even begun, so it was to be expected. The results of the experiment showed that most of the students had a very good grasp of the pace that the text should be read at (see fig. 2. 2). In addition, most of them read the text at a decent volume; and all of the students were audible (see fig. 2. 3). It was obvious which students have had a lot of practice reading because of their melody, and the way it flowed throughout their reading (see fig. 2. 1). These students are also the ones that were given good marks in inflection; pitch and confidence (see fig. 2. 5, 2. 7, and 2. 8). One of the areas in which most of the students did not do very well was the pauses, as it seemed as if they were in the wrong places and there did not seem to be enough of them (see fig. 2. 4). Finally, the worst area by far was the personation or interpretation of the characters in the story. Most of the students did not even change the pitch or melody of their voice when reading the direct speech and those that did change the pitch of their voice did not put on any kind of exciting voice (see fig. 2. 6). From the results, we have seen that generally the standard of interpretative reading is at a fair level, usually respective of the student’s level of English. However, there were certain issues and certain elements of their reading which are necessary to try and eliminate to help improve their interpretative reading. The highest level of reading was from a student who could be considered the student with the highest level of general English. This was mainly due to his immediate in-depth understanding of the text. He was able to employ pauses in appropriate places such as full stops, commas, but also using them for dramatic effect as in adjective lists or after adverbs. He also had a strong use of melody in how he read. The best skill he used which set his reading above the rest was his use of personation on the characters voices. Some other students were able to produce a similarly high standard of reading and once again these students can be identified as the ones with the best overall English language skills. Some of these good examples were from the M3 level. Despite them being at a high level of general English some of the elements they employed in their reading was something that could be said was found in all readings at this level but not as frequent. One of these is the students’ use of force on unstressed syllables. This was more common at the end of words which contained specific sounds. This was seen in words such as monKEY and heavenLY, adding extra force to the /i? / sound, and gardeNER, giving force to the /? /. There is also another issue that was common at the end of words. This was the dropping of sounds or in some case whole syllables. This was most evident in plural nouns and ed sounds at the end of verbs. For example, peachES, leavES, soldierS, pronounced as /? z/, /z/, and /s/ which were generally dropped from the words all together especially the /? z/ sound. Further to this the /? d/, /d/, and /t/ sounds in words such as, boastED, stormED, and snappED, were particularly a problem. As we looked down the levels of general English skills we saw problems more identified with that level rather than an overall picture of Thai speakers and these problems ultimately determined how well of a reader we believed them to be. One such problem was melody. English being a very musical language requires the reader to know the importance of stressed and unstressed words within the sentence. The result was mainly a flat sentence giving equal stress to prepositions and articles, to nouns and verbs. This disrupted the usual flow of the English language. The pause was another problem but was a more obvious one. There are certain positions within a reading where a pause must be used, such as full stops and commas and without these pauses the reading can sounds unnatural. This wasn’t throughout the text but only in some places is enough to give a breathless effect. The above mentioned issues were the most common throughout all the readers but there were some individual mistakes present as well. For example, the rising inflection or falling inflection mid-sentence, giving a different meaning to the sentence as a whole. We believe that vocabulary knowledge is of great importance in the way we set up the experiment. Although the material used for the reading is said to be a level one reader this does not mean that all the students are able to fully understand all the words in the text and their subsequent effect on the way the text should be read. From the six steps of analysis it is stated that a reader should be able to read the text line by line fully understanding the text, to understand the theme, and importantly take the text away and practice. With the limited time available with the students it was not possible to allow them to take the text home, study it, and perhaps translate the words to understand their meaning. Therefore, the students with the greatest range of vocabulary were the students with the better examples of interpretative reading. In regards to the common use of what we considered to be their wrongful employment of interpretative reading skills, we tried to identify a possible reason for each case. Firstly, the use of force at the end of words containing /i? / and /? / we believe to be a problem that is associated with the Thai language. Generally, these sounds at the end of words are stressed in the Thai language while unstressed in English, and so they are mixing up the two languages. In contrast to this is the students’ lack of plural and ed sounds at the end of words. Due to the fact that they are not pronounced at the end of words in the Thai language, the students’ would transfer this over to the English language and drop them from the English words. The students’ lack of melody could be also to do with being Thai language native speakers. The musical rhythm of the English language requires the use of melody by stressing words in certain ways within a sentence. The Thai language, however, does not have melody in a sentence as a whole and so the reading was flat as oppose to rising and falling, strong and weak. The lack of pauses in some instances has more to do with the individual reader and with practice could easily be eliminated. Conclusion In conclusion, Thai teachers need to provide more speaking time for the students so that they can learn the rhythm of the English language. This can be achieved by giving the students more access to a native speaker’s spoken word. Some suggestions for this would be to have the students do more role-play exercises in the classroom impersonating different characters from a book. Also trying to imitate character’s voices from a movie or from television programmes would be a great way to master their personation technique. A game could be made out of this where the students have to guess who another student is trying to imitate. Another way to help Thai students might be to get them to listen to other well known interpretive readers while they are reading along to the story themselves to get an understanding of how it is done well. Interpretive Reading for Thai Students By Drew Eaglesham Timothy Parker Sarah Pratley Victor Deville-Blumberg EN202 Interpretative Reading.

Syndicated Data And Standardized Services And Their Differences Marketing Essay

Syndicated Data And Standardized Services And Their Differences Marketing Essay At work, I am involved in the selection process of research suppliers for the sake of annual staff surveys, benefits surveys and for mystery shopper program and analysis, I realize the services offered by the research industry has grown greatly in the past decade. So I am interested to find out the kind of services research agencies offer, and about the marketing research industry worldwide. This paper is therefore relatively informational, in which I have included a lot of named research suppliers who were listed and found from the various book references, library and internet sources in order to support the different categories of the services. There will be little emphasis on opinionated discussion, as the objective of this paper aims to explain the syndicated data and standardized services offered by research agencies, distinguish their differences, various applications and sources of data. Both services are common nowadays in Asia, especially the SMEs (Small to medium sized ente rprise) that are using such research data for nurturing the success of their organizations, however the difficulties to operate a nation-wide approach in Asia is discussed. I have also included a sample of a standardized service in Hong Kong, WorkHKà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ by Towers Watson, in the area of job satisfaction survey and its process is shared here. Introduction What is Syndicated data and Standardized services Today, over $20 billion a year is spent on marketing/advertising/public opinion research services around the world. Spending on marketing research is $6.9 billion in the United States alone. During the past two decades, the research market has become highly concentrated, with about 54 percent of the market being held by the 50 largest worldwide organizations. The other half of the market is shared by a thousand or more small research firms. The concentration is even more pronounced in the United States, where the 10 largest firms account for 64 percent of total U.S. spending for marketing research (Wileys Marketing Research Industry and Research Ethics article, p.26). In the highly competitive retail market, understanding the customer is paramount. In order to fill in the gaps of consumers buying motive and actual buying, companies have to understand the customers, and of course, marketing research is the tool for gaining knowledge about the customers. Marketing research is a systematic gathering of information and such analysis of data gathered connects the consumers and the public to the marketer so as to identify the marketing problems and opportunities, assess marketing actions, manage the marketing performance, and improve the overall marketing process. Marketing research information is provided by research suppliers which can be either an internal supplier or an external supplier. Most manufacturers, retailers, and service businesses, such as McDonalds, Kraft Foods or American Airlines, have small internal marketing research departments, and Procter and Gamble (PG) has a large internal research department. External suppliers are outside marketing research companies hired to supply marketing research data; and they can be classified as full service supplier firms and limited service supplier firms; full service suppliers are companies that offer full range of marketing research activities, they provide standardized information which involves two broad classes, namely the syndicated data services and standardized services which this paper focuses to discuss. Figure 1.0 indicates the overall services provided by an information supplier. What it means by Syndicated Data and Standardized Services According to Curry (1993) and Kolb (2008), syndicated data is a form of external and secondary data supplied in a standardized format and ready-to-use routine information made available to multiple subscribers known as a syndicate in a common database, which means the information is not tailor made to meet the needs of any particular company or designed to solve client-specific problems, the data format is designed to provide a standard, ongoing vehicle to facilitate the collection of data. Syndicated data is provided in a common data base for a service fee charged to subscribers and these research firms which provide the data are known as syndicated data service firms. These suppliers offer syndicated data on a subscription basis to all subscribing members of the syndicate, such detailed information can be of value to companies in a specific trade but may not be available in libraries. Syndicated data suppliers collect data on a continuing basis regarding the consumption of a specif ic product or products or the purchasing behavior of a specific target market segment. These data are then sold to companies, which specify how much data they want and the analysis they require; the more data and analysis that are required, the higher the price and what they do not do is conducting research specifically for any single client company. With syndicated data, both the process of collecting and analyzing the data and the data itself are standardized, firms supplying syndicated data follow standard research formats and uniform reports that enable them to collect the same standardized data over time at periodic intervals. Common types of syndicated data measure retail sales, wholesale product shipments, consumer panels, advertising media audiences, advertising effectiveness, and consumer attitudes. ACNielsen TV Ratings and IRI are examples of two large syndicated data services firms, ACNielson collects information on TV and media viewing and also on ad recognition on the i nternet, anyone, including the public, can buy the products they sell by visiting their website. On the other hand, standardized services rarely provide clients with standardized data, rather, they provide the research process. Zikmund (2003, p.74) explained that standardized services refer to a marketing research process that is standardized and used to generate information for a particular user and the application of that standardized process will result in different data for each client, even though the standardized process is the same in gathering the data. For example, a client will use a standardized service firm to measure customer satisfaction, instead of developing its own process. Several other marketing research services, such as test marketing, naming new brands, pricing a new product, or using mystery shoppers, can be provided or purchased from standardized service firms. Synovates ProductQuest service assists in developing new products and improving existing products. Baltimore Research offers a Mock Trials service to clients involved in litigation, to listen to di fferent attorney presentations so that the litigants attorneys can have better presentation ways to impact the jurors. Advantages and Disadvantages of Syndicated Data and Standardized Services Advantages of Syndicated Data A key advantage of syndicated data is on the shared costs of the data among users as many clients may subscribe to the same information, thus making the cost of the service greatly reduced. Burns Bush (2010, p.205) made it clear that due to the quality of the data collected is typically very high and requiring a huge amount of cost, so the share of affordable cost with several users maintains the validity and reliability quality of the data. Another advantage is that the data are normally disseminated very quickly because of the routinized systems, standard procedures and methods used to collect and process the data over and over again on a periodic basis. Besides, the information is current, the more current the data, the greater is the use. Syndicated data services can at least aid in the formulation of the clients decision problem, suggest types of data for meeting the information needs, and service as a source of comparative data by which internal data from within the organizati on cannot achieve. Advantages of Standardized Services The advantage of using standardized service suppliers is mainly buying the experience of the research firm, especially when the buyer company does not have enough the experienced personnel to carry out a particular research process. Besides, using standardized services helps to reduce cost of the buyer when the trial and error process and potential errors can be minimized. Since the standardized service suppliers has been conducting the service for many clients regularly, their procedure is therefore efficient in delivering the result as compared to having the research processed by the buying company themselves. Most importantly is the time saved for buying company in collecting similar data by themselves, because several weeks or months may be required to design, pretest a survey or questionnaire, train the interviewers, devise a sampling plan, collect and process the data. In addition, such cost of the project could be tremendous but it can be much reduced by employing the services from external standardized suppliers. Due to the always availability of standardized services, it is therefore important in the marketing research application. Disadvantages of Syndicated Data Since the format is standardized, buyers have little control over what information is collected and must be satisfied with the standardized information received. Buyers may feel helpless if the units of measurement or definition of classes, recency of data, publication currencies and the units of geographical data are not appropriate which are summarized as the data fit problem. Burns Bush (2010, pp.205-6) gave a second disadvantage, that buyers must often commit to a long-term contract which only serves to secure the expenses required by the syndicated data supplier on the quality and vast scope of research. The last and most crucial disadvantage is that the same data is available to competitors, that is, what the client firm buy and see from the report, the competitors also see the same analysis and picture. Disadvantages of Standardized Services Naturally, the word standardized automatically implies the service is not customized, standard service suppliers do not design a service specifically for the clients project. Besides, Zikmund (2003, p.113) stated that the standardized service supplier may not know a particular industry well so it becomes the responsibility of the buying company to ensure the standardized service really fits their intention. This accuracy problem poses a limitation and can only be minimized if the buying company has a comprehensive knowledge of the research process so as to evaluate the accuracy of the data and assess the evidences regarding the quality of the data as well. Applications of Standardized Information Standardized information is a type of secondary data which can be either syndicated or standardized, in which the data collected and/or the process of collecting the data are standardized for all users. Standardized information can have many applications, in general, it includes measuring the consumer attitudes, clarifying market segments, conducting market tracking and monitoring the usage of media and effectiveness of promotional activities. Measuring consumer attitudes and opinion polls Burns Bush (2010, pp.206-207) gives plenty of examples for this kind of suppliers: The Maritz Poll uses a standardized process to ensure that consumer attitudes and opinions are properly measured, and these polls are examples of a standardized service. ESRIs Tapestryà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ Segmentation is a standardized service that uses a process to profile residential neighborhoods. This information is purchased by clients desiring to better understand who their customers are, where they are located and how to reach them. The Yankelovich Monitor measures changing social values and their impact on consumers. It specializes in generating studies on mature populations, baby boomers and Generation Xers. These data are syndicated which is available to anyone who wishes to buy, and the information can be used for a variety of marketing decisions. Ipsos Public Affairs ® produces Ipsos Global @dvisor ® to study the companys proprietary audiences so that company can better understand how consumers and key stakeholders view its reputation as a brand. Coca-Cola is its subscribers. The Harris Poll measures consumer attitudes and opinions on government and economy, and other topics include politics, world affairs and legal issues. Harris poll is a source for identifying trend lines and is standardized information offering syndicated data. The Gallup Poll (http://poll.gallup.com/) measures public opinion polling on a wide variety of topics, such as domestic issues, private issues or world affairs, military and defense, stem cell research, smoking population percentage over time, etc. Gallup poll is syndicated data, as the information is available to all who wish to buy. Client firms can track attitudes of consumers toward buying private brands or their attitudes. Defining market segments This research method requires placing customers to share certain attributes, such as age, income, into homogeneous groups or market segments. The Stanford Research Institute, for example, conducts an annual survey of consumers and classifies them into homogeneous groups for market segmentation purposes. Some standardized information sources focus on members of the industrial market, two sources being the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system allow marketers to define industry types more specifically. Dun Bradstreet (DB) credit bureau collects vast amount of information on business firms, private and public. While SIC uses 4 digits codes and NAICS uses 6, DBs Duns Market Identifiers (DMI) uses 8 digits classification system to identify firms into very specific types of businesses. Since DB originated as a credit reporting firm and companies already supplied DB with detailed information about their operations, allow DB create databases containing a wide spectrum of business information. This is important if a marketer is trying to target specific business firms, however narrow their classification. Other standardized information sources provide information on members of the consumer market. SRI Consulting Business Intelligences (SRIC-BIs) VALSà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ program (www.sric-bi.com/VALS/) segments consumers by psychological and demographic measures, placed them in each of eight personality segments. This knowledge of consumers behaviors helps the client firm develop a deeper understanding of its target market consumer. Birn (2000, p.74) brought in the term, geodemographics, which describes the classification of usually small geographical areas and related to the characteristics of the inhabitants. Research firms specializing in geodemographics combine census data with survey data. Boyd, Walker Larrà ©chà © (1998, pp. 171-179) further substantiated this service by referring it as PRIZM, (Potential Ratings Index for ZIP Markets) which defines every neighborhood in the US based upon 66 household market segments. ESRIs Tapestryà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ also divides US residential ZIP cod es into 65 segments based upon selected demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Nielsen Claritas (http://www.claritas.com) and Acorn help sending promotion messages to targeted consumers and they have created desktop products that assist marketing managers to conduct regional and national segmentation studies. Knowing which market segments helps to make up a client firms potential customers. Conducting market tracking Tracking studies are those that monitor, or track a variable such as market share or sales over time. Tracking studies can tell a firm how well the products are being sold in retail outlets globally and also the sales status on competitors products. Nielsen SCANTRACK Services is based on syndicated retail scanning data, tracks thousands of products as they move through retail stores, allowing brand managers to monitor sales and market share and to evaluate marketing strategies. As for market tracking at the household level, it is gathered in homes using scanning devices or through the use of diaries and sending auditors to households. Nielsen Homescan ® Panel, uses scanning device to scan all bar-coded products brought home from all outlets. IRI ScanKey Consumer Network Household Panel, an example given by Malhotra Birks (2000), maintains a panel of consumer households that record purchases at outlets by using a handheld ScanKey wand. Todays technology is so advanced that a user o f information can easily be overloaded with information, various companies have therefore created decision support systems, data mining systems, expert systems and the like by using analytical tools to attach meaning to data, allowing marketers to make decisions in response to the quickly changing market conditions. Monitoring media usage and promotion effectiveness In order to measure the promotional effectiveness in media, readership, listenership effectiveness, some syndicated data service companies conduct studies on several forms of media. To track television, Nielsen Television Index (NTI) records television ratings data which are reported by DMAs (designed market areas). Naturally higher viewership of certain programs allow the television company to charge higher fee for advertisements. NTI also provides subscribers with audience characteristic information that allows potential advertisers to select audiences that most closely match their target markets characteristics. To track radio, Arbitron Panel provides syndicated data on radio station listening through selected samples who record their radio listening in diaries and Arbitrons Portale People Meter (PPMSM), a hand-held electronic device in the size of a mobile phone, automatically records the stations listened to. The procedures for measuring advertising effectiveness are standardized for comparing the results across studies. To track print, MRIs Starch Readership Survey is widely used for measuring the actual exposure of magazine ads to readers; Gallup and Robinson Magazine Impact Studies are another well-known syndicated service firms, aim to help marketers make decisions about what comprises a good ad. To track downloaded music, videos and recorded books, Nielsens SoundScan, VideoScan and BookScan separately provides information on the downloaded music, sales of VHS and DVD and sales of books. To track Multimedia, Simmons National Consumer Study gathers information on media usage linked to product usage, this information allows companies to determine the viewing/listening media habits of users. Nowadays, on-line consumer word of mouth or on-line consumer business have been shared through the internet world, via websites, blogs, facebook, discussion forums, companies can keep track of what is being said about them and their products by subscribing to BussMetrics from the Nielsen Company (Hester, 1996, pp. 169-170 and Burns Bush, 2010, pp. 219-222). Monitoring health related facilities and pharmaceutical products IMS Health Incorporated, as mentioned by Burn Bush (2010, p.76), is the worlds second largest research firm, providing services in over 100 countries. IMS services include pharmacy and hospital audits plus the measurement of disease and treatment patterns. Westat, Americas third largest research firm, conducts research and long-term follow-up surveys for agencies of the US government and businesses foundations. Major areas include health, education, social programs, environment and transportation. Sources and Suppliers of Data Primary and external syndicated Secondary Data Primary and secondary data are two main sources of data. Primary research starts from raw scratch, collected specifically for the research needs to solve the problem at hand. Secondary data already exists and are already published as they were collected for purposes other than the specific research needs at hand and usually used by someone else. Secondary data are therefore more economical than primary research which is a quick source of background information, but the format seldom meets the needs of the researcher. In a marketing problem definition process, analysis of available secondary data is an essential step and primary data should not be collected until the available secondary data have been fully analyzed. Scott (2009) alerted marketers with international marketing research that few problems may arise because customers may vary due to different cultures, traditions, beliefs and expectations. If this happens, separate country should collect individual countrys secondary info rmation and then compare the data difference, which means international marketing research better counts more on original primary data instead of secondary information. Primary data sources Primary data is original and normally organizations commission external researcher to establish the techniques, measurement and analysis for them. The technical aspects of conducting various types of primary marketing research relies on qualitative research methods, which means working with focus groups, conducting surveys, questionnaires, interviews and experiments. Wilson (2006, pp. 37) said this is a skilled task that requires careful thought and planning whereby a poorly designed questionnaire can jeopardize the response rates and provide incomplete or inaccurate data. Besides, determining the sample involves clearly specifying the types of respondent to be included, the number of respondents required and the method by which individual respondents will be selected. To conduct focus groups and interviewing, the researchers need to be well trained to ensure unbiased judgment and uphold the ethics to respect the rights of the respondents. Most companies will outsource the data colle ction process and rarely have it conducted by the companys internal personnel. Syndicated sources and Suppliers of Secondary Data Secondary data can be classified as coming from internal sources or external sources. Boyd et. al. (1998, p.80) specified clearly that internal sources can be available within the organization when every organization has at its disposal valuable internal secondary data, such as sales invoices, estimates of total annual usage of a product, advertising and promotion activities recorded, research and development and manufacturing reports or service by location, etc. that can be an important starting point for any marketing research project. External data can be available from various sources, such as government statistical publications, trade association data, books, bulletins, annual reports and business periodicals which can be free from library resources. Otherwise, external data sources not available in libraries are usually standardized data which are comparatively expensive. These secondary data are supplied by syndicated services suppliers to many client firms, anyone willing to pay the price can buy the data. One method of obtaining secondary data is frequently through surveys, which could be periodic surveys on the same set of variables conducted at regular intervals; or panel surveys to measure the same panel respondents over time but not necessarily on the same variable; or shared surveys are developed and executed for multiple clients when each of them share the cost. A number of firms maintain panels of respondents who are matched to the general population in terms of age, income and who agree in advance to participate in surveys, typically by mail or phone and response rates within the panels tend to be high and the demographic and lifestyle information are already available . Curry (1993) classified syndicated data sources as a) consumer data, b) retail data, c) wholesale data, d) industrial data, e) advertising evaluation data, and f) media and audience data. Consumer data normally relates to purchases and the circumstances surrounding the purchases. Kinnear Taylor (1991, pp.151-155, 164) provided examples of these suppliers: The National Purchase Diary (NPD, http://www.npd.com/) maintains over 30,000 households who keep diaries of purchases. The Marketing Research Corporation of America (MRCA) maintains a diary panel that records details on purchase of groceries and personal care items. Mediamark Inc. has annual survey that includes overall breakdown of usage by demographic category. The Roper Reports monitor public opinion and consumer behavior and interests on a broad range of social and political topics and on opinions of various consumer products and services. Yankelovich Clancy Shulmans Monitor Service conducts annual survey of households on social trends. Regarding consumers attitudes and buying behavior, Burgoyne Consumer Surveys provides in-store consumer on-the-spot reactions to marketing and product innovations, DDB Needham an d Gallup Omnibus conducts long term tracking of attitudes and opinions. PRIZM serves to explain, predict target consumer behavior while the Survey Research Center at University of Michigan monitors consumer consumption patterns, attitudes and intentions on financial issues. Retail Data collected focus on the products or services sold through the outlets and/or the characteristics of the outlets themselves. Hair, Bush Ortinau (2006, pp. 12-13) mentioned ACNielens Retail Index and Audits Surveys National Total-Market Audit provide data on total sales by product class, sales by brand and of competing brands in supermarkets, drugstores. IRI (http://www.infores.com/) and ACNielsen (http://www.acnielsen.com/) basically dominate the retail scanner business. Scanner data are collected in two separate forms (household level and store level) and for two distinct sets of clients (manufacturers and retailers). In addition, three other sets of data are also maintained, they are (a) prices, features and displays at the retail level; (b) coupons and other promotions (c) advertising on TV, print, radio. Audits Survey also provides National Restaurant Market index on the commercial restaurant market annually. Ehrhart-Babic Group provides syndicated in-store distribut ion data and new-product-introduction performance data through their National Retail Tracking Index. BehaviorScan and InfoScan by IRI assist in multiple market testing and tracking services while DBs National Scan Track provides projection to monitor displays in supermarkets. Wholesale data are warehouse shipment data used to estimate sales at retail. Birn (1999) told us that SAMI (Selling Areas-Marketing, Inc.) is the best known syndicated service of this type, especially for retail food stores. SAMIs data allow the client to analyze trends in sales or package size and the impact of promotions and competitive actions. These data also serve as an intermediary audit purpose in the distribution chain, wholesalers and formal examination of product movement by analyzing inventory. Pipeline Research Inc. provides audit service on warehouse inventories of drug products monthly. Then P-O-S Research audits the national warehouse movement and trend line of products sold through food store distribution, including grocery, frozen, dairy, household, health and beauty aids. Industrial data are more syndicated data services available to consumer goods manufacturers rather than to industrial goods suppliers. Birn (1999) shared that DBs Market Identifiers provides data on companies rated by DB, which can be used to construct sales prospect lists, identify sales territories, sales potentials, and so forth. McGraw-Hills Dodge Reports collects data from building material manufacturers and distributors so the data can be used in marketing building products while Polk Companys Motor Statistics provides vehicles registration data. Advertising Evaluation data help advertisers in measuring the effectiveness of their ad expenditures in broadcast and print media. AdTel, ARS (Advertising Research Service), CATS (Comprehensive Advertising Tracking System) offer comprehensive and continuous tracking of weight and quality of commercial ads in terms of GRPs (Gross Rating Points). Starch Message Reports, Gallup and Robinson Magazine Impact Studies are most widely used syndicated services on readership. Burns Bush (2010, p.150) cited Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) is a standardized, independent third party audit bureau, aims to confirm methodology, verification of lists and credibility of the content of magazines which are very helpful to the magazine industry providing advertisers with richer data on magazine readership. Media and audience data Media companies include advertising agencies, sales promotion companies, public relations agencies, and direct marketing firms which are all concerned with getting the right message to the right target market, the advertising effects of competitors, how much they are spending and the media mix, hence marketing research information is often required to accomplish this goal. For example, companies that advertise on network television want to select shows that reach their target customers most efficiently so they need information on the size, demographic and psychographics composition of the audiences for various TV programs. Firms like NMR and American Research Bureau provide standardized TV audience ratings to a syndicate group of clients. The Simmons Market Research Bureau compares audience characteristics. Kolb (2008, p.64) mentioned it would be greatly inefficient for company to collect these data by themselves, only ad agencies have internal research depar tment as they need to find the correct marketing message and the best image to represent a client company and also the best media to use. Marketing Evaluations, Inc., for example, offers several Q Scores ® services, one of its services measures the familiarity and appeal of performers, such as actors/ actresses, authors, athletes, sportscasters, and so forth. Such information helps companies to choose the most appropriate spokesperson or help a movie producer select a performer for an upcoming movie. Scott (2009) gave an interesting fact that Tom Hanks and Bill Cosby, for example, are performers who have high Q scores. Nielsen Media Researchs Nielsen Television Index (NTI), is another example of a syndicated data provider, supplying subscribers with data on TV viewing, available to anyone wishing to buy it. Arbitron and ACB (Advertising Checking Bureau) offer syndicated data on the number and types of listeners to the various radio stations. This standardized information helps advertising firms reach their target markets; and also helps radio stations define audience size and characteristics. One must not undermine the service by the research giant, VNU Inc. (VNU), founded in 1964, is a major international media and information company and the largest company owned by VNU is ACNielsen. Hair et.al. (2006) gave a thorough introduction of ACNielsen, that it is broken down into several companies: a) Nielsen Media Research (NMR) provides television audience measurement information; b) NetRatings Inc. (NR) reports on internet and digital media syndicated research; c) Entertainment Information Division (NE) serves the entertainment industry, including movies, music and home entertainment; d) Media Solutions Division includes PERQ/HCI providing healthcare audience measurement, Scarborough Research (SR) measures local and regional shopping patterns of American consumers, Standard Rate Data Services (SRDS) offers the worlds largest database on media rates, Interactive Market Systems (IMS) offers audience profiling. Single Source Data Single source data means continuously monitor a panel of respondents on media exposure, promotional material exposure, and buying behavior to measure their exposure to promotional material

Truman Capotes In Cold Blood Essay -- In Cold Blood Essays

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many writers traditionally use their imagination to fabricate an interesting yet fictional story. Only their creativity and vision limit their writing. They can afford to neglect minor details because they do not base their stories on factual information. There existed a period when this was the only practiced style when writing a novel. However, Truman Capote pioneered the 'nonfiction novel', as he called it, when he undertook the writing of In Cold Blood. His book described the well-known murders of the Clutters, a model American family. Due to the fact that Capote was writing a factual account of the crime, he thought it necessary to make his novel correct in even the smallest details. This proved to be a very difficult project, but his perseverance paid off. Capote made use of many literary techniques in order to grab the interest of his readers. He wanted his novel to be more than just a newspaper description of the crime. Finally, In Cold Blood was a great s uccess because it told a true story in an interesting way. Capote overcame a big milestone by discovering a way to write a nonfiction novel, which appealed to everyone.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First, Capote knew that he was creating a new art form when he wrote his greatest work, In Cold Blood. He was a writer for the New Yorker, which gave him good practice in gathering important facts It took him six years to complete this book because that is the amount of time that passed from the time the Clutters were murdered to the time the criminals were put to death. Truman Capote wanted his novel to be as close to the true facts as possible. He painstakingly gathered information from Holocomb, Kansas, the site of the murders, and various other settings. In reference to Capote?s obsession for accuracy, Gerald Clark wrote   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Cold Blood may have been written like a novel, but it is accurate   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  to the smallest detail, ?immaculately factual? Truman publicly boasted.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Although it has no footnotes, he could point out to an obvious source   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  for every remark uttered and every thought expressed. ?One doesn?t   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  spend almost six years on a book, the point of which is factual accuracy,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  and then give way to minor distortions.?(358) Because Truman had to devote much of his time to the research and writing of this novel, he wanted to be thorough. He was so proud of his work that he dubbe... ...nent   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  to every event, and the creative vision of an artist who can arrange his   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  materials in such a manner that the reader is moved to pity, terror, joy,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  and sorrow.(237) Capote proved his excellence in writing by maintaining a firm grasp on his reader?s attention.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In conclusion, In Cold Blood was a pioneer novel because it combined journalism with fiction techniques. It was very difficult for Truman Capote to write this novel because he had to gather massive amounts of data in order to make the book factual. Next, he needed to organize that data in such a way that it would be interesting to the reader. Secondly, Capote used many literary techniques such as flashback and dramatic irony to make his novel more interesting. Finally, this novel was very appealing to all people because it was based on a true crime. Edward Weeks wrote ?he is providing the readers with a high-minded aesthetic excuse for reading about a mean, sordid crime.(160)? This means that Capote provided people with an artistic account of the Clutter murders rather than a straightforward, newspaper one. Works Cited: Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood. New York: Vintage, 1965.

How to Live a Long Life

How to live a Long Life As technology and medicine evolve over time, the life expectancy in most countries is increasing. Here are a few additional ways of increasing the odds that you'll make it to that ripe old age of 85 and beyond. Steps 1. Eat healthy. Some health professionals will state that eating healthy is more important to your body than getting regular exercise. Indulge only when necessary and have a well-balanced diet. Read and understand â€Å"Nutrition Facts†. 2.Introduce regular exercise into your life. While most people lead quite busy lives, the benefits of exercise usually present themselves in all areas of your life. Gradually introducing exercise will lead to longer patterns of fitness rather than adopting a harsh workout regime each New Year's. 3. Develop a sleep schedule. It's not as important to get a certain number of hours of sleep; so much as it is to get the same amount of sleep, at the same time, day in and day out.Sleep gives your body a chance to heal and regenerate; having a stable sleeping routine will help your body take care of itself more easily. If you do not carry out successful sleep cycles over an extended period of time (48+ hours) you can seriously affect your physical and mental health. 4. Drink plenty of water. This universal solvent is a most effective weapon against toxins and many other violators. It flushes out your system like nothing else does. 5. Think first.This step includes looking both ways before you cross the street, as children are taught but many adults take it for granted, and wear protective gear when necessary; whether you're while riding a bike or skateboard, working on a construction site, or handling potentially harmful substances. While the human skull is quite thick and sturdy, severe head trauma can result from the brain being jostled around inside the skull from an impact, potentially resulting in permanent brain damage or even death. 6.Reduce stress in your life. By cutting stress or st ressful things in your life you can drastically change your life expectancy. The first way is through the direct, unhealthy effects of stress on your body in the long term. The second way stress may shorten your life expectancy is through the negative behaviors that being stressed triggers. These behaviors include comfort eating and smoking. Learn to relax through de-stressing techniques or meditation to keep your life expectancy up where it should be.

Peak Garage Door Swot Analysis

Case 2: Yorktown Technologies Group 7 I. Problem definition: Trying to find a marketing and distribution strategy that would help the company reach its revenue goals. II. SWOT Analysis: 1-Strengths: †¢ The company raised additional capital to fund its business operations and had more than three dozen different investors †¢ The firm will be launching the first commercially available biotech animal in the U. S †¢ Yorktown Technologies grabbed the attention of the media and the news of the upcoming Glo fish launch was on the front pages of many famous magazines †¢ $ 4 million out of $ 700 million was spent on Yorktown Technologies products by consumers. †¢ Yorktown technologies’ suppliers and distributors have been regular suppliers of tropical fish to the 3 major retail chains †¢ The company was given exclusive rights to lines of red, green, yellow and orange fluorescent zebra fish which provided the company with an effective barrier to entry against potential competitors 2-Weaknesses: Generated more than $ 120,000 loss in 2004 †¢ There is no enough money to support a national advertising campaign †¢ Not being able to sell the Glofish in California which is an important market with high population †¢ High demand on limited supply †¢ Some countries are still not convinced with the safety of the GloFish 3-Opportunities: †¢ California is a very important market that has a population of 33 million who are willing to buy innovative products †¢ International markets where the fish can be sold mainly Asia †¢ Zebra fish are known to be very popular ornamental fish with more than 200 million sold in the U. S alone †¢ Two dozen regional wholesalers located throughout the country distribute freshwater ornamental fish to an estimated 5000 retail establishments for sale to consumers †¢ Total sales of pet stores are increasing at an annual rate of 7% †¢ Consumer market for freshwater ornamental fish and related products in U. S exceeds $700 million annually and is growing at a rate of 9% a year 4-Threats: †¢ The blanket regulation that the California Fish and Game Commission passed and that prohibited the possession of genetically modified fish in California †¢ Number of pet stores in U. S is declining at annual rate of 2% †¢ The anti-biotechnology groups that are trying to stop or disrupt the launching of Yorktown Technologies by spreading misinformation about the safety of the fish †¢ The ethical and environmental questions regarding the sale of the genetically modified fish †¢ The strong competition in Asia especially Taiwan where genetically modified fish is being sold and rumors say that some of them are being introduced in the U. S III-Alternative courses of action: 1-Alternative one: Opening a Glofish Kiosk in a shopping mall Advantages |Disadvantages | |Shopping mall kiosks have enjoyed explosive growth in |High renting cost per year | |terms of revenue and numbers |Customers might get confused with the availability of | |Offering GloFish branded tanks and supplies |different products | |These outlets sells variety of products |Small space | -Alternative two: Possibility of marketing the Glofish product line through the internet directly to con sumers Advantages |Disadvantages | |no rent costs |Availability of numerous dot com firms that marketed | |no operating costs other than delivery |tropical fish to consumers | |ability to offer and show customers the variety of |Competitive prices | |products available for GloFish |Delivery cost is high | 3-Alternative three: Selling the fish through international markets |Advantages |Disadvantages | |Increased sales |must consider foreign regulations that would apply to | |High market share |the genetically modified fish | |High brand awareness by consumer due to the expansion |cannot market the product in all countries | | |high competition with similar products and prices | IV-Recommended course of action: My suggestion is to go with the first recommendation that states to open kiosks in shopping malls Reason of choice: Due to the fact that malls are explosively growing in numbers and revenue and this would be a great benefit for Yorktown Technologies. V-Recommendations: a-What should be done? Showing people the value Glofish add b-Who should do it? Middle management (marketing and distribution department) and the sales team that is in contact with the customers – When should it be done? As soon as all people are aware that the following fish are harmless and the regulations allow their sale. d- How should it be done? -displaying then fish in a way that will show their true color and glow which will be the first thing that will attract the customers -offering competitive prices and promotions -always reminding people that they are not a threat e- How much it will cost? Rent is high which is between $12,000 and $36,000 per year and operating costs