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The final week of actual class time found us discussing pricing and how best to establish the right price for your products. I never realized there were so many different pricing strategies. I also found out just how big of a job this really can be. It's not an easy thing to research pricing strategies. It's such a difficult task that only 15% of companies do serious pricing research. That stat was probably the most shocking of the entire semester.

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We learned some of the basics of sales promotions in Chapter 16. Sales promotions play a huge role in the marketing mix. Often times, sales promotions are used for the simple purpose of getting customers into the store.

We talked about coupons and how they are used. Some people like to take the time searching for and collecting coupons. Others get very annoyed when they have to stand in line behind someone who is using coupons. I guess I have never really paid much attention to coupons and their affect on businesses and customers alike.

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We had another week off for E-week and then came back to class the following week to learn more about advertising and public relations. Prof. Allen pointed out that advertising was most likely the one thing most of us had imagined a marketing class to be all about. I believe he was right.

These two areas definitely are a huge part of marketing. No company will ever amount to any real success without implementing both of these ideas successfully.

It's really hard to imagine the advertising dollars that get spent each year. Forty-one companies spend over $1 billion each year on advertising budgets, and that is for the U.S. alone. Over $1 billion every year.

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This time we learned about the role that promoting goods and services plays in a marketing strategy. I learned there are several promotional mix strategies that are necessary for success. Most of these were already apparent including advertising, public relations, and sales promotions.

This lesson also discussed steps in the communication process and how they are interrelated. The most brilliant message can only be as successful as it is decoded successfully.

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In week 10 we learned about marketing channels and how many organizations work together to get the flow of goods from raw materials to the consumer. Different players doing entirely different types of work are necessary to help this flow. Production steps, communication between companies and consumers, and financing are just a few players in this game.

One of the best quotes from the book said "supply chain management is both a communicator of customer demands...and a physical flow process." You need to understand the wants and needs of your customers before you can supply them with what they want or need.

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Best week of the entire semester. It was spring break with no class and no homework. What a relief.

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Midterm exam--would it be very scary. Not really. I just studied the quizzes like Prof. Allen suggested and finished in plenty of time with a nice grade to boot!

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Week 9 was very short and sweet. We got out of class an hour early and that was perfect for me so I could go back into work and finish up a few things. Thanks Prof. Allen for an early out this week!!

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I did my presentation in week 7. I chose to do some close ended questions on Garage Band for Apple's iLife product line. I have never heard of this before and found it intriguing what someone could do with this program. I have the musical talent of a rock, so it wouldn't do me any good, but it would be a good tool for those who are good with music.

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In week 6 of class, part of the presentations were related to Red Lobster and how it is viewed by different parts of society. I have never eaten at one, and I thought it was interesting to see just how strongly some of those in class felt about their experience with this restaurant chain.

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Week 5 of class was kind of interesting. We reviewed the quiz for the week and discussed some questions that were very ambiguous. Prof. Allen gave everyone an extra 10 points for those two questions. That is very much appreciated since I only scored an 85 on that particular quiz.

Me

The address to my blog is an old nickname mixed in with my first given name. Don't know too many Dupup's and it's a bit strange how it came to be. My Kindergarten teacher was an old south paw (left handed for those who aren't familiar with baseball terms). As she was teaching us to write our names, she naturally did everything left handed. My left hand is almost completely useless, but I thought I had to do it the same way she did. As it turns out, that didn't work so well. Instead of David, my name looked like Dupup. So that became my nickname growing up.

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This particular day was a very long day. Started the work day at the usual 6 a.m. and had a long busy day at work. Finished shortly after 7 p.m. to get ready for class. Still had work to do after class, too. Struggled to stay awake for part of class, so I really hope I didn't get called on to participate in anything. If I did, there's a ding to my total score for not participating. Finished class shortly after 10 p.m. and returned to work until 12:30 a.m. These long days and very short nights are kicking my butt. I need to sleep!!!

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We're now a little further into the class. We are now venturing in to Twitter and blogging. I know relatively little about either of these forums. I don't even know if my "Tweets" make it where they should or even make sense if they do. There's going to be a large learning curve for this non-traditional student. Hang on and have fun. As an older lady used to always tell me, "Be careful, and if you can't be careful, be sorry." Take it for what it is, but that is how this whole process seems to me at the moment.

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Week two of class was interesting. We were required to read the first chapter of our textbook MKTG. This is unlike most other textbooks. It is laid out in a way that is more user friendly. Not quite as boring as other books I've been required to read!

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Found out in the first week of class that we would be required to have an account in Twitter, Facebook, LinkdIn, and a blog. I'm completely new to most of this so I will see how it all turns out. Prof. Allen seems very excited about this class and these different forms of technological networking.