Marketing That Moves People

Marketing careers are broader than many students realize. In this upbeat bonus episode, Dr. Derek, Emily Carter, Marcus Reed, and Tom Kessler explore entry-level jobs and early career opportunities where business graduates can use marketing skills. The hosts discuss roles such as marketing assistant, social media coordinator, digital marketing assistant, customer experience associate, sales and marketing support, event assistant, retail merchandising associate, agency coordinator, CRM assistant, and communications assistant. Listeners learn that marketing skills can also appear in jobs without “marketing” in the title, especially in small businesses, nonprofits, retail, sales, customer service, and local organizations. The episode encourages students to recognize the value of customer understanding, communication, data, AI tools, reliability, and curiosity as they begin exploring career opportunities.

Artificial intelligence is transforming marketing, but powerful tools require responsible judgment. In this final episode of Marketing That Moves People, Dr. Derek, Marcus Reed, and Priya Nair explore how AI supports content creation, customer insights, personalization, analytics, automation, customer service, and campaign strategy. The hosts also examine risks involving accuracy, privacy, bias, transparency, misinformation, generic content, and customer trust. Listeners learn that AI can help marketers work faster and smarter, but it cannot replace customer understanding, ethical decision-making, strategic thinking, or human creativity.

Modern marketing depends on tools that help organizations manage customer relationships, communication, automation, analytics, and data. In this episode, Dr. Derek, Marcus Reed, and Priya Nair explore marketing technology platforms, CRM systems, email marketing tools, marketing automation, customer data, data integration, chatbots, and AI-supported marketing workflows. Listeners learn why technology should follow strategy, how automation can improve or damage the customer journey, and why customer data must be used responsibly. The episode emphasizes that marketing technology is most valuable when it improves customer experience, protects trust, and supports better decision-making.

Digital marketing creates a lot of data, but not every number matters equally. In this episode, Dr. Derek, Marcus Reed, and Priya Nair explore digital marketing metrics, dashboards, KPIs, funnels, click-through rates, conversion rates, bounce rates, email metrics, social media metrics, and customer behavior. Using an online lunch order campaign as a running example, the hosts explain how marketers identify meaningful metrics, interpret customer drop-off, avoid vanity metrics, and use dashboards to make better decisions. The episode also discusses the role of AI, privacy, and ethical data use in digital marketing analytics.

Marketing activity is not the same as marketing results. In this episode, Dr. Derek opens the final unit on marketing technology, analytics, and AI with Marcus Reed and Priya Nair. Together, they explore marketing analytics, performance metrics, vanity metrics, conversion rates, customer acquisition cost, customer lifetime value, marketing ROI, dashboards, attribution, and responsible data use. Listeners learn why marketers must connect metrics to objectives, interpret data carefully, and use AI as a tool for better decision-making rather than a replacement for human judgment.

Digital marketing is not about chasing every platform—it is about reaching customers in the places where they already spend time. In this episode, Dr. Derek, Marcus Reed, and Tom Kessler explore social media marketing, content marketing, influencer marketing, e-commerce, online reviews, omnichannel experiences, and AI-generated content. Through examples from local business, digital campaigns, micro-influencers, online ordering, and customer reviews, listeners learn how digital tools can create value, build trust, encourage action, and strengthen customer relationships when used strategically and ethically.

Marketing communication is not always one-way. In this episode, Dr. Derek, Marcus Reed, and Tom Kessler explore personal selling, direct marketing, and customer engagement. Listeners learn how personal selling helps customers through conversation, needs discovery, presentations, objection handling, closing, and follow-up. The episode also explains how email, text messaging, loyalty programs, and direct communication can build stronger customer relationships when used respectfully. Through local business examples, students see why effective marketing is not just about reaching customers—it is about engaging them, helping them, and earning their trust over time.

Advertising, public relations, and sales promotion are three important tools in the promotion mix, but they each serve a different purpose. In this episode, Dr. Derek, Marcus Reed, and Tom Kessler explore how organizations use advertising to create paid visibility, public relations to build credibility and reputation, and sales promotion to encourage immediate action. Through examples from local business, digital marketing, breakfast promotions, crisis communication, and community involvement, listeners learn how promotional tools work together as part of an integrated marketing communications strategy.

Marketing communication is more than posting ads or creating social media content. In this episode, Dr. Derek introduces Unit 7 with Marcus Reed, a digital marketing agency owner, and Tom Kessler, owner of Kessler County Market and Fuel. Together, they explore integrated marketing communications, the communication process, branding, promotion tools, message consistency, calls to action, campaign measurement, and the role of AI in marketing communication. Through a practical breakfast promotion example, listeners learn why effective marketing messages must work together across channels and be supported by the actual customer experience.

Pricing decisions affect more than revenue—they affect customer trust. In this episode, Dr. Derek, Emily Carter, and Tom Kessler examine legal, ethical, and profitability considerations in pricing. Through examples involving hidden fees, drip pricing, price gouging, discounts, fuel pricing, AI-supported pricing, and competition from large chains, listeners learn why ethical pricing requires transparency, fairness, sustainability, and respect for customers. The episode also explains why profitable pricing is not automatically unethical and why long-term trust should guide pricing decisions.

Why do prices often end in ninety-nine, and why do online prices sometimes change from one day to the next? In this episode, Dr. Derek, Emily Carter, and Tom Kessler explore psychological pricing, dynamic pricing, and digital pricing. Through examples from convenience stores, fuel prices, subscriptions, online shopping, rideshare apps, hotels, and digital platforms, listeners learn how pricing affects customer perception, demand, fairness, and trust. The episode also examines how AI and algorithms are changing pricing decisions—and why marketers must balance optimization with transparency, ethics, and long-term customer relationships.

How do businesses decide what to charge? In this episode, Dr. Derek, Emily Carter, and Tom Kessler walk through the pricing decision process by examining pricing objectives, costs, customer demand, perceived value, competitor prices, and final strategy. Using examples from convenience stores, fuel pricing, breakfast sandwiches, digital markets, and customer experience, listeners learn why good pricing requires more than simple math. The episode explains how organizations balance profitability, customer value, competition, fairness, and brand positioning when setting prices.

What can the Coca-Cola versus Pepsi Challenge teach us about marketing? In this welcome episode of Marketing That Moves People, Dr. Derek and Emily Carter introduce students to the power of marketing through a blind cola taste test and the famous rivalry between Coke and Pepsi. The episode explores why Pepsi often performed well in blind taste tests, why Coca-Cola's brand power remained so strong, and how real customer decisions are shaped by more than product features alone. Students are introduced to marketing as the study of customer value, perception, branding, experience, context, and meaning—and are invited to begin seeing the business world differently.

Price is one of the most visible marketing decisions, but it is much more than a number. In this episode, Dr. Derek, Emily Carter, and Tom Kessler introduce pricing strategy by exploring pricing objectives and common pricing methods. Through examples from convenience stores, fuel pricing, breakfast sandwiches, digital markets, and customer experience, listeners learn how price communicates value, shapes expectations, affects profitability, and influences brand perception. The episode explains profit-oriented, sales-oriented, market share, survival, and premium pricing objectives, along with cost-based, competition-based, and value-based pricing approaches.

This episode breaks down why most product launches never make it, from shopper inertia and status quo bias to the challenge of displacing the same 150 everyday items consumers already trust. It also examines two classic product flop traps: awkward middle-ground offerings and overly complex products that force customers to learn too much.

A brand is more than a logo, name, or slogan. In this episode, Dr. Derek, Emily Carter, and Tom Kessler explore branding, brand equity, brand loyalty, brand promises, and brand strategy. Through examples from convenience stores, retail brands, customer experience, and local business competition, listeners learn how brands reduce uncertainty, build trust, influence customer choice, and create long-term value. The episode also examines how organizations manage brand extensions, protect brand credibility, and use AI to better understand customer perceptions without losing authenticity.

Products do not stay the same forever. In this episode, Dr. Derek, Emily Carter, and Tom Kessler explore the product life cycle and product portfolio management. Through examples from convenience stores, smartphones, retail product assortments, and customer experience design, listeners learn how products move through introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. The hosts also discuss how organizations manage product lines, decide which products deserve investment, and use data and AI to identify trends, improve assortments, and create stronger customer value.

A product is more than something sitting on a shelf. In this episode, Dr. Derek introduces Unit 5 on Product and Brand Strategy with new guest voices Emily Carter, a customer experience analyst, and Tom Kessler, owner of three independent rural Wisconsin gas stations. Together, they explore goods, services, experiences, product layers, customer value, and the role of service quality in product strategy. Through examples from convenience stores, digital customer journeys, and everyday business decisions, listeners learn why customers do not simply buy products—they buy benefits, solutions, experiences, and value.

Marketing does not end when a customer makes a purchase. In this episode, Dr. Derek, Sarah Mitchell, and Miguel Ramirez explore customer relationship management, customer retention, personalization, customer journey mapping, and customer lifetime value. Through examples from ShadeTree Coffee and B2B manufacturing, listeners learn how organizations use CRM tools and customer data to build stronger relationships, improve communication, encourage repeat purchases, and create better customer experiences. The episode also discusses the ethical use of personalization and how AI can support customer relationships without replacing genuine human connection.

Once marketers choose a target market, they must decide how they want customers to perceive their product, service, or brand compared to competitors. In this episode, Dr. Derek, Sarah Mitchell, and Miguel Ramirez explore positioning strategies, competitive positioning, positioning statements, and positioning maps. Using examples from retail, manufacturing, and ShadeTree Coffee, the hosts explain why strong positioning must be clear, relevant, believable, and supported by the actual customer experience. Listeners will learn how positioning helps brands stand out and claim a meaningful place in the customer's mind.

After marketers divide a market into segments, they must decide which customer groups to focus on. In this episode, Dr. Derek, Sarah Mitchell, and Miguel Ramirez explore target market selection and customer personas. Using ShadeTree Coffee and manufacturing examples, the hosts discuss how organizations evaluate potential segments based on size, growth, profitability, competition, accessibility, and strategic fit. Listeners will also learn how customer personas help marketers bring target audiences to life and make better decisions about products, messaging, service, and customer experience.

Trying to market to everyone often means connecting deeply with no one. In this episode, Dr. Derek, Sarah Mitchell, and Miguel Ramirez introduce market segmentation and explain why marketers divide broad markets into smaller groups of customers with shared characteristics, needs, or behaviors. Through examples from ShadeTree Coffee, manufacturing, and everyday business decisions, listeners learn about demographic, geographic, psychographic, and behavioral segmentation. The episode also discusses how AI can support segmentation while reminding marketers to avoid stereotyping and use customer data responsibly.

Businesses are customers too, but they often make purchasing decisions very differently than individual consumers. In this episode, Dr. Derek, Sarah Mitchell, and Miguel Ramirez explore organizational buying behavior, buying centers, supplier evaluation, B2B relationships, and customer experience. Through examples from manufacturing and ShadeTree Coffee, listeners learn why organizational purchases often involve multiple decision makers, higher risks, formal evaluation, and long-term supplier relationships. The episode also examines how customer experience and AI tools are changing the way organizations buy and manage business relationships.

Customers do not always clearly explain what they need, want, or value. In this episode, Dr. Derek, Sarah Mitchell, and Miguel Ramirez explore how marketers collect useful information through primary research, secondary research, surveys, interviews, focus groups, observation, customer data, and AI-assisted tools. Using ShadeTree Coffee as an example, the hosts discuss how businesses turn customer information into meaningful insights while also recognizing the importance of privacy, ethics, and critical thinking. Listeners will learn that good marketing research is not just about collecting data—it is about understanding customers more deeply.

Good marketing decisions are not built on guesses. In this episode, Dr. Derek, Sarah Mitchell, and Miguel Ramirez introduce the marketing research process and explain how organizations gather information to make better decisions. Using ShadeTree Coffee as an example, the hosts explore how marketers define research problems, develop research plans, collect and analyze data, and use findings to guide action. The episode also discusses research ethics and the role of artificial intelligence as a tool for supporting, but not replacing, critical thinking and customer insight.

Why do two customers with the same need often make completely different purchasing decisions? In this episode, Dr. Derek, Sarah Mitchell, and Miguel Ramirez explore the factors that influence consumer behavior, including psychological, social, cultural, and personal influences. Through real-world examples and business insights, listeners learn how marketers study customer decision-making and why understanding consumer behavior is critical for creating value and building effective marketing strategies.

Why do people buy what they buy? In this episode, Dr. Derek, Sarah Mitchell, and Miguel Ramirez explore the differences between customer needs and wants, the principles of the marketing concept, and how organizations create customer value. Through examples from technology, retail, and small business, listeners learn why successful marketers focus on understanding customers first and how changing preferences influence purchasing decisions. The episode introduces key concepts that serve as the foundation for studying consumer behavior and market segmentation.

How do organizations determine whether their marketing efforts are successful? In this episode, Dr. Derek, Sarah Mitchell, and Miguel Ramirez explore marketing objectives, performance metrics, and the role of data in decision-making. Using the example of ShadeTree Coffee's second location, the hosts discuss SMART objectives, meaningful metrics, customer retention, sales performance, and the dangers of focusing on vanity metrics. Listeners will learn how successful marketers measure results, interpret data, and continuously improve their strategies to achieve organizational goals.

Successful organizations don't just focus on what's happening inside their business—they pay attention to what's happening around them. In this episode, Dr. Derek, Sarah Mitchell, and Miguel Ramirez explore environmental scanning and the external forces that influence marketing decisions. Through discussions of economic conditions, technology, artificial intelligence, demographic changes, social trends, and competition, listeners learn how organizations identify opportunities, anticipate threats, and adapt to a constantly changing marketplace.

How do successful organizations evaluate their position in the marketplace? In this episode, Dr. Derek, Sarah Mitchell, and Miguel Ramirez use a real-world business scenario to explore SWOT Analysis. As ShadeTree Coffee considers opening a second location, the hosts identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that influence strategic decision-making. Listeners learn how SWOT helps organizations evaluate internal capabilities, respond to external market conditions, and make more informed business decisions.

Successful marketing campaigns rarely happen by luck. In this episode, Dr. Derek, Sarah Mitchell, and Miguel Ramirez explore the role of planning in marketing success. Listeners learn the differences between strategic, tactical, and operational planning, examine the steps in the marketing planning process, and discover how organizations turn ideas into action. Through examples from both Fortune 1000 companies and small businesses, the hosts demonstrate why thoughtful planning helps organizations make better decisions, adapt to changing markets, and achieve long-term goals.

Marketing has the power to inform, inspire, and create positive change—but it can also mislead consumers and damage trust when used irresponsibly. In this episode, Dr. Derek, Sarah Mitchell, and Miguel Ramirez explore real-world examples of ethical and unethical marketing, including Patagonia's sustainability-focused campaigns, Dove's Real Beauty initiative, the Fyre Festival disaster, and Volkswagen's emissions scandal. The discussion also examines customer privacy, data ethics, and the growing role of artificial intelligence in marketing. Listeners will learn why trust is one of the most valuable assets a company can build and how ethical decision-making contributes to long-term business success.

Every product launch requires a series of important decisions. In this episode, Dr. Derek, Sarah Mitchell, and Miguel Ramirez explore the Four Ps of Marketing—Product, Price, Place, and Promotion—through the launch of a fictional Nitro Cold Brew coffee product. Listeners will learn how marketers use the marketing mix to create value for customers, build competitive advantages, and bring products successfully to market. The episode also prepares students for their upcoming Marketing Mix Analysis activity by demonstrating how to evaluate a real product through the lens of the Four Ps.

Why do customers choose one business over another? In this episode, Dr. Derek, Sarah Mitchell, and Miguel Ramirez explore the concepts of customer value, customer satisfaction, and competitive advantage. Through examples from manufacturing, small business, and everyday purchasing decisions, they discuss how organizations create value beyond price, why customer expectations continue to evolve, and what separates successful businesses from their competitors. Listeners will learn how understanding customer needs, delivering meaningful value, and building sustainable competitive advantages are essential to long-term business success.

Welcome to the first episode of Marketing That Moves People. In this introductory episode, Dr. Derek introduces the course, explains the purpose of the podcast series, and shares why marketing is much more than advertising, social media, or selling.Joining the conversation are Sarah Mitchell, Director of Marketing for a Fortune 1000 manufacturing company, and Miguel Ramirez, founder of a growing chain of rural coffee shops. Together, they explore how organizations of all sizes use marketing to understand customers, create value, and build lasting relationships.Listeners will learn why marketing begins with understanding customer needs, how value creation drives business success, and why every organization—from local small businesses to global corporations—depends on effective marketing. The episode also introduces the role of artificial intelligence in modern marketing and previews the concepts students will encounter throughout the course.Whether you're considering a career in marketing or simply want to understand how businesses connect with customers, this episode provides the foundation for everything that follows.