Originally posted by Ratmagiclady
"Perception" is fickle. "Competing for the poser market" is just something that'll eat itself.
Cause telling 'Pro's' "If you want the big-company professional services, do it our way or we'll say you're not a professional," ...well, that's the fastest way to have unenthusiastic customers feeling insulted and trapped at best.
Unfortunately, from experience, thats exactly how it goes, more so from the Marketing Managers, who know absoultely nothing about photography outside of "Brand names" who also do the hiring. Canikon have the enviable position of not having to compete for new customers beleive it or not. Alot of people dont understand the dynamics of advertising dollars, most of all marketing people oddly enough. When Canikon advertise their not looking to get more customers on board, thats what publicity and word of mouth is for. Advertisings sole purpose is
to keep customers exactly where they are. A returning customer is the bread and butter of any business.
Originally posted by Ratmagiclady Pentax, on the other hand, always had an image of being the brand of competent artists and students and all the usual: where they screwed the pooch marketingwise was trying to rebrand themselves as 'budget' and try to create 'image' instead of *images* with weird 'features' and finishes and plastickeyness. )
Agree, the biggest problem with Pentax is their known now as the "Budget Brand" nowadays. Thats great for customers who know the company's history but the fine line between Quality on a Budget and Budget Quality are inevitably mixed in the mind of prospective consumers who have no prior knowledge of the company (new customers).
Originally posted by Ratmagiclady People who are like, 'I bought this Nikon or Canon cause they were supposed to be 'the best' and am having a hard time,' they wanna be 'what are you using?'
Hehe, here in NZ i have witnessed a few such purchases going into our local Trade site. It was obvious they had brought into the image of professionalism only to be somewhat baffled when they produced the same level of photography they had produced with their P&S camera's. Like wise, i had a friend who had a Pentax K10 and traded it off because their pictures didnt look professional enough...a new brand later the images looked the same but he was quite adament there was a increase in quality. Perception is fickle, but if you so happen to own a business or a product or a service, perception is everything!