Introduction
The chosen discourse community is the American Marketing Association. The researchers chose this community because of its popularity among scholars and professional marketers in the United States, Canada, and Mexico (Ringold and Weitz 28). This community brings together marketing practitioners, educators, students, and the public in general in a forum where they can share critical information relating to marketing. Its publications of informative journals and the interactive website also contributed to the decision to use it. The scholars were able to get a marketing graduate student and a practitioner to interview in this project.
The American Marketing Association
The American Marketing Association (AMA) is the leading discourse community for marketing professionals in North America. According to the two interviewees, this forum offers a wide range of products to its clients. The graduate student interviewed in this research has been a member for the last eight years. According to him, this forum has enabled him to make relevant networks that have helped him so much in his practice. As Hoffman and Bateson (95) observe, having such a community makes it possible for professionals in a given field to form networks that are helpful not only in practice, but also in research and other areas. This community portrays marketing as a unique practice that defines success or failure of any firm in the current competitive markets.
Resources it provides
The resources offered by this forum are modeled to fit into three categories which include volunteers, academicians, and student resource center. Te second interviewee, a young lady who graduated from college two years ago, has been a member of this forum for the last ten months. According to her, AMA is one of the best forums for a marketer in terms of resources they offer to the members. From tutorial manuals to marketing tips and information about emerging trends in this profession, the forum has helped the interviewee to get her dream job and enabled her to be very effective in all that she does.
Resources available to the general public
The general public can also benefit from this forum even if they are not registered members. In its website, the forum has journal articles that the public can use to meet their varying needs. Although most of the videos and tutorials are restricted to registered members only, there are instances where unregistered members of the public can access very informative articles and essays that can improve their lives in one way or the other. Through this website, employers can source for highly qualified marketers who can turn around the status of their firms. According to Lamb and McDaniel (44), finding highly skilled and talented marketers may not be easy. The website can enable employers to monitor activities of the members and identify individuals with desired characteristics and level of education.
Requirements to become a member
Membership to this organization is limited to five categories of people. The first category has professionals and academics. To be a member in this category, one must be a practicing marketer or an educationist. These members are expected to pay $ 250 to become registered into the forum. The second category is group which can either be a firm or individuals coming together. Under this category, the forum may allow non-marketers to be a member as long as their defined aims are in line with the vision of the organization. Individual members of the groups are registered after paying $ 235. The third category is the young professionals. Membership under this category is limited to young professionals within the first three years after completing their undergraduate degrees. They pay a membership fee of $ 110. The fourth category is for the doctoral students. These members are very important to this forum because they play a leading role when it comes to issues about research. They need to register by making a payment of $ 110 to the organization. The last category is for undergraduate students. Marketing students can register under this category to enable them monitor market trends. Their registration fee is $ 47.
Contents of the journals available in the organization
According to Lehmann (56), the concept of marketing has changed from what it used to be in the previous centuries. In almost all the sectors of the economy, competition is now something that is very common and unavoidable. Firms are finding themselves at critical situation where they have to outsmart their rivals to remain operational. Most of the journals available in this website focus on these marketing issues that firms currently face. Besides the marketing journals, this website also has other important journals for people in the real estate, finance and banking, hotel and tourism management, insurance, health, education, amongst other fields. Kotler (82) says that marketing brings together all these fields as they struggle to manage competition.
Communication modes
The website uses a wide array of communication modes to pass its message. The oral form is readily available in the form of videos and audio files presented by the member. It has audio files specifically meant for members who are visually impaired. Majority of the articles, however, are available in the written form. As one of the interviewee noted, the organization is keen on reaching out to its members through the most appropriate means possible.
Overarching norms
The texts available in this website can be classified into various different categories. The most common texts fall under the category of news report, case studies, newsletters, and infomercials. Others may be classified as adventure magazines, future news story, or letters to the editor. Berkowitz (113) says that modern marketing now involves more fantasies than realities. For instance, a chocolate brand may promise its users a unique mental trip to heaven while taking their product. This is a fantasy. Some of the journals describing such experiences may be classified as fiction.
People who write the journals
American Marketing Association, just as the name suggests, is meant to bring marketers in a single forum where they can share ideas and find solutions to some of the common problems they face in their careers. Most of the people who contribute most in terms of journal publication are marketers falling under different categories. Those who are in practice are very instrumental when it comes to publishing case studies about their real life experiences. They enable other members to understand the realities that marketers face when delivering their duties to their employers. The graduate students are playing a leading role in publishing reports about their research. They take time to investigate various issues and then make an informative report that can help members of the society. Other members are also at liberty to make their contributions.
Self-Reflection Letter
Working on this project was thrilling, but it also had some challenges that my partner and I had to address. The first challenge was to identify and convince interviewees to participate in the study. A number of them turned down our request. Luckily, we were able to identify two people who were willing to take part in our study. That was a great breakthrough for us. Peer work was very helpful in this project. Comments and suggestions from my peer made it possible to revise and fine tune my report to acceptable levels. It enabled me to identify weaknesses in the initial report that needed to be addressed. For example, it was very helpful when my peer noted that my work lacked objectivity given that I used first-person pronoun. He recommended that I should not be part of the findings to make it more convincing to the audience. To do this, I had to avoid first-person pronoun in the entire report. The advice made my work appear more professional than it was previously before the review.
One of the goals that this project has addressed is the need to develop investigative skills as a learner. To gather relevant data, one must know how to probe and come up with findings which meet the objective of the research. The project has sharpened my investigative skills. I now have a better knowledge on how to identify participants in a study, how to prepare them for the research, and how to ask relevant questions to get the desired responses. I also have a better knowledge on how to review literatures.
Works Cited
Berkowitz, Eric. Essentials of Health Care Marketing. Sudbury: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2011. Print.
Hoffman, Kennedy, and John Bateson. Services Marketing: Concepts, Strategies & Cases. Mason: Cengage Learning Services, 2009. Print.
Kotler, Philip. Marketing Management. Harlow: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2009. Print.
Lamb, Charles, and Carl McDaniel. Essentials of Marketing. Mason: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2012. Print.
Lehmann, Donald. “Dimensions of Marketing’s Relationship to Society.” Journal Evolution and the Development of Marketing 24.1 (2005): 137-142. Print.
Ringold, Debra, and Barton Weitz. “The American Marketing Association Definition of Marketing: Moving from Lagging to Leading Indicator.” Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 26.2 (2007): 251-260. Print.