That's All Folks!

"So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen." This will be the fifth and final blog post for the Mountain Nut. Before we say goodbye though, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on the experience its been to write these posts. I don't believe I've ever introduced myself in any of these blogs, and I suppose late is better than never. My name is Benjamin Guilmette, and I am a junior Business major at Saint Michael's College. I am the author of all of these posts, and I wrote them as a learning experience for my Business Marketing course, taught by Prof. Marie-France Nelson.

My first post was September 7th, 2017, over two months ago. It was the Patagonia blog. I wrote about Patagonia's strict adherence to their own corporate values, and how by keeping to this they have created a form of social and environmental idealism around their company. This idealism has been and continues to be a powerful marketing tool from them. However, with this power comes an enormous ethical responsibility. Because they have such great influence over many of their customers, they must only promote ideals that are for the betterment of society or ones that do not degrade a certain group or environment. If they fail to do this, they may find themselves in trouble for inciting violence or wrongdoing. I did not realize the importance of this when I wrote the blog in September, but feel that it is worth noting now.

Since my first post, I feel that I have learned a lot about marketing, and particularly how to write more intelligently about it. Prior to the class, I thought about marketing as being pure salesmanship. Today, I know marketing extends much further. The job of marketing does not simply stop after cash has changed hands, it is about developing a bond with the customer and creating a desire to want to buy again. Without marketers, companies would never be able to give themselves an edge over competitors. The result of this would be companies tirelessly competing with each other, with no clear differentiation between them. Companies that market the best live and die by the relationship they build with their customers. The entire marketing process, from start to finish is centered around the target customer. I believe that the companies featured on this blog, have done this effectively.

My altered understanding of marketing is partly to blame on a better understand of the terminology used in it. To understand certain words or phrases such as, "elastic demand," or, "brand community," has allowed me to much more effectively evaluate marketing material. In addition to this it has allowed me to better convey marketing concepts in my own writing, specifically in these blog posts.

It has also become clear to me that finance and marketing are inextricably linked. A company's marketing actions may always begin and end with the customer in mind, but a company's financials provide the base for those actions to take place. For example, lower prices may not always be a selling point, especially when it comes to luxury or specialty products. I talked about this in my post about DPS skis. DPS is a small brand that is known, but not nearly as famous as other ski giants like Rossignol or K2. They can afford to charge over a thousand dollars for most of their skis, however, because they are known for exceptional quality. They don't sell anywhere near the volume Rossignol sells, but they have made a niche for themselves as a small exceptional brand.


There's no better teacher than experience. Writing this blog and researching these companies marketing methods have given me a beginning experience into marketing. I look forward to continuing to learn hands on about marketing and the business world. With any luck, I may find time to write about it too. Until then though, "so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen."