alabama | Gorman Houston

by Gorman Houston on February 24, 2015

Marketing Miscues

Many companies and marketing teams can agree it is very easy to market to the wrong crowd which can completely throw the marketing strategy off. For example, in recent years according to HBR.org, “Suburban white men consume 80% of hip hop music, even though it’s typically considered a genre aimed at young, urban black Americans. Misconceptions like this aren’t limited to American markets.”

Marketing experts are making the mistakes of targeting different cultures incorrectly. Mangers and experts are focused on attempting to reach the right cultural groups based on their interests, not based on their locations, race, or ethnicity. Basing there strategies on the location, race, and ethnicity is what has gotten so many companies in a hole which is tough to recover from. Experts explain how this phenomenon of wrongful targeting is painful to watch considering the amount of money being allocated to marketing groups whose main goal is to find the target market and appeal to them. They explained, “First, we need to look beyond demographics. Most likely the markets for all products we think of as culturally specific are understated by a significant amount, which should have big implications for resource allocation.”

Even though experts believe targeting cultural groups is not the right and most effective way of marketing it is still the major strategy used by most marketing groups or firms. Experts hope these companies start to target consumers based on what the new popular item or group is. In a way they hope that they start to market the whole population on what the new in item is instead of targeting one small target based on culture. Trends show that they could eventually move to what experts believe will work best, but until then our best bet is that marketers will continue their current strategies until a new breakthrough way to target consumers is revealed.

For more marketing news please visit Gorman Houston‘s official website.

by Gorman Houston on February 19, 2015

University Of Alabama Ranked #2 School In State

In a recent study done by the state of Alabama and the rest of the country, The University of Alabama have ranked as the #2 state school in the state, right behind their rival Auburn, who ranked #1. Although Auburn ranked about the University of Alabama, The Crimson Tide rolled over Auburn in several categories which landed the respective schools their ranking.

The ratings behind the rankings on admission process, graduation rates, prestigious reputation, affordable tuition, housing costs, diverse student population, diverse faculties, and economically robust communities. According to AL.com The University of Alabama ranked very well and “earned high scores in diversity, selectivity, prestige and advancement.”

The University of Alabama came in at number 58 in terms of national ranking, which is quite outstanding considering they are a state school. Many state schools lack the funding to provide an exceptional education, but due to the prestigious reputation the university has, they are able to receive funding from various alumni. The University also has a very popular and prestigious football program, The University Of Alabama Crimson Tide. Over the years, the program has brought in millions of dollars to help fund for better education programs at the university.

Alabama hopes to overtake Auburn in the upcoming years as the top school in the State by improving their off campus housing and costs. They scored fairly low in those categories, but the striving community of Tuscaloosa should help bring up the value and hopefully the schools rating boosting it to the number 1 state school in the nation.

Please visit Gorman Houston‘s site for more news on The University Of Alabama.

Filed Under: Gorman Houston Tagged With: alabama, College, Crimson Tide, gorman houston, Roll Tide, School, State School, University, university of alabama

by Gorman Houston on January 23, 2015

5 Marketing Tips Companies Must Master

With 2015 here, companies are ramping up their marketing efforts to attract new customers. Companies who cannot learn to adapt to new marketing patterns and trends will be left in the dust. Some simple tips to keep up with marketing in 2015 are as follow:

1. Social Media Marketing

With almost everyone adapting to technology, you can find everyone on social media now a days. From your kids, all the way to your grandparents. Companies have taken notice of this and are taking advantage. To date, there are thousands of social media sites out, most of which offer advertisement space on their site. With more and more companies attempting to buy out this online retail space, it would be beneficial to any company with a heavy into e-commerce. The opportunities are there, waiting for companies to pounce.

2. SEO has changed, so should your business!

Over the past five years, Google has evolved and updated its algorithms to crack down on ‘black hat’ SEO. Google now favors content based websites and advertisements rather than link and word stuffing. Companies need to understand that SEO will always be important based on how important it is to be on Google.

3. E-Mail Marketing

Social media is obviously going to be a major pipeline for marketing for companies in 2015. E-mail marketing goes hand in hand with social media marketing due to the simple fact it requires for one to have an e-mail if they sign up for a social media site. According to Capterra, “When marketed through e-mails, consumers spend 138% more than people who do not receive e-mails.” These are just companies who send out mass e-mails, the opportunities are endless, you just have to take them!

4. Video Marketing

According to Business Insider, video marketing will be very important this upcoming year. Companies who post videos about products or services are recorded to have a 64% increase in consumers making purchases. Also, information in video is transferred to the brain almost 100,000 times faster than text. Essentially, people rather watch videos, not read the text that goes into them. In December, 2013 alone 52.4 billion videos had been viewed by Americans. The numbers speak for themselves, video marketing is a route all companies should be taking.

5. Go Above and Beyond

It is important to follow these steps since they will be helpful in your marketing strategy for 2015. Without stepping to the plate and keeping up with new trends, it will be tough to stay relevant in this competitive marketplace.

For more information, please read Business Insider‘s and http://gormanhouston.com

Filed Under: Gorman Houston Tagged With: alabama, Crimson Tide, gorman houston, Marketing, Online Marketing, SEO, university of alabama, Video Marketing

by Gorman Houston on November 20, 2013

Social Media Marketing to Promote Hunger Games

Many are looking to see how Hunger Games, Catching Fire does this weekend at the box office. In 2012, Hunger Games set a record that would be hard to beat with a $155m weekend opening. Hunger Games was an runaway hit and became the center of conversations among many. The Lionsgate film broke all Fandango records for movie pre-sales, selling out more than 1200 showings.

So the question remains how did this move become such a phenomenon? The answer lies in its social media marketing using accounts like YouTube and Facebook. A start-up called thismoment, created the social infrastructure that helped catapult Hunger Games into an international sensation. “They started their social program way back in summer 2011. Lionsgate adopted a ongoing continuous process for improvement based upon user data from their social channels. This is part of a trend where smart marketers are adopting a new approach, one that leverages dynamic customer input instead of the old style of phased, programatic marketing campaigns.” says Vince Broady, CEO of thismoment.

Lionsgate and thismoment launched a campaign with a series of social promotions on YouTube, Facebook, and other social sites a year before the movie’s release in order to begin building interest and buzz. Part of the campaign was the development and dissemination of engaging videos about the characters in the Hunger Games as well as partnerships with brands like MTV. By exposing their audiences to the stories beforehand, Lionsgate and thismoment got viewers interested and excited for the release. Large portion of the campaigns included user-generated content like video submissions, one of the popular trends in social media marketing.

“In the past just getting a social media campaign up and running took all the resources and creative was limited. Now it’s not a problem to execute the mechanics of a social campaign so the creative is becoming a much more critical factor” according to CEO of thismoment Vince Broady.

Filed Under: Gorman Houston Tagged With: alabama, gorman houston, Hunger Games Catching Fire, Jennifer Lawrence, UA, university of alabama