Episode 0269

Hello everyone and welcome to English Pod. My name is Marco.

My name is Catherine and today we have an upper intermediate level lesson about something very technical. We're talking about marketing strategies here today.

That's right. Today we have an upper intermediate lesson at the office, that is the category of this lesson, and we're basically talking about marketing, a marketing plan, and a lot of the technical words around this, uh, this part of business.

All right, so let's take a listen to today's dialogue and we'll be back in just a moment to talk about what's going on.

Okay everyone, let's begin. I called you here today to evaluate our marketing strategy during this recession.

I wanted to re-emphasize our corporate mission of aiming to give our customers the best coffee and service in a clean and welcoming atmosphere.

Several other shops have been reducing their prices for their coffees, and they are drawing in more customers. Why aren't we doing the same thing?

I know that recent sales have been slow, but we are not going to reduce our prices to the level of our competitors. We offer a superior product, and our focus is on long-term growth, rather than short-term sales.

If we lower our prices, we run the risk of devaluing our product.

Customers don't care about coffee anymore. They only care about price.

We have never sought to appeal to the mass market with cheap coffee drinks, and we will not do so now.

That's true. We've certainly achieved top-of-mind awareness when it comes to the best-tasting brews, and it's important to distinguish ourselves from the competitors.

I think the main question is, how can we show our appreciation to our customers?

That's the main question I would like to discuss today.

Since the superiority of our coffee beans is one of our core competencies, why don't we sell the beans for people to brew coffee at home?

That could definitely be a way we could expand our company, but would we be undermining the essence of the company that way?

Let's brainstorm some more ideas and do some research. The customer always comes first, and what the customer wants, the customer gets. Maybe it's time we started selling coffee beans.

All right, we're back. So a very interesting dialogue. I think this is something very common that would go on in a, in a meeting room when the marketing department is talking about prices and how do we increase sales, et cetera.

So, um, I think we had a lot of difficult words or maybe words that we didn't really understand well. So let's take a look at some of those in language takeaway.

So the first word on the top of our list today is recession. Anyone looking at the news this this year or last year probably knows what this word means, but let's talk about it anyway. What is a recession?

That's right. So everyone was talking about the recession and basically, uh, it is a noun, all right? And it means that people don't have much enough money like before and so consequently, services are decreased, people aren't buying as much, so there is a lack of commerce going on in a country, a region, or a city, etcetera.

All right, so basically, in economics, you have these different cycles. It's not like the economy is always the same. And so sometimes when there's not enough money, we call it a recession, and we can say, hey, I don't have much money to spend right now, we are in a recession.

So that's a very common way to use the term.

That's right. So as you said, it's an economic term, and many consequences because of this lack of jobs, it's just as you said, a cycle.

And so apart from a recession, that that's why they are brainstorming to see how they can increase sales despite the recession. They also talked about their customers and that their customers are highly discerning.

All right, so this word discerning comes from the verb to discern. And it's a really important one because it it means to be able to tell the difference, to understand the difference between two different things.

Okay, so let's say, we have two cups of soda.

I'm very good at tasting things, so I can discern the difference I can discern the difference between these two. I can say one is Coca-Cola and one is Pepsi.

Okay, so to discern is to be able to tell the difference or to notice the difference between many things. And so obviously you are a discerning person.

All right, or you have discerning taste. This means that you're very good at telling when something is high quality and when it's not high quality.

Okay. And well, talking about discerning customers who know what they want. And so they talked about their coffee beans and that it's one of their core competencies.

Okay, so this is something you might actually hear in education as well as in business. Something is your competency if you are able to do it, all right?

So, um, I am able to write Chinese characters. It's one of my core competencies, okay? So that's something that I'm able to do so I consider it one of these central or important abilities.

But you always talk about competencies within the context of some area. So my language skills or in this case, at a company, we're talking about making a coffee, one of the company's core competencies is making their coffee beans. That's something they're good at.

That's right. And core, when we talk about core, we talk about the center, we talk about one of the most important things.

Okay. And uh, well, for the last word that we've prepared to you in language takeaway, we talked about them worrying that, you know, selling the coffee beans might undermine the essence of the company.

To undermine. Okay? This is a really important verb and you'll hear this a lot actually in TV shows and especially in dramas.

Say he's undermining my authority, or he's undermining my power. This means that, um, someone is challenging it or someone is kind of taking it away from you.

Okay. So to undermine is to, as you say, challenge or try to take something from you very sneaky, in a sneaky way sometimes.

That's right. So, for example, if I'm the president of a country and, uh, someone is trying to take that away from me, someone is trying to be the president and trying to take down my government, he is trying to undermine my power.

Okay, very good.

So, four keywords there on language takeaway. Now we're going to move on to fluency builder, where we've prepared a lot of nice and very good phrases.

All right, so on fluency builder, why don't we start up from the beginning of the dialogue when they were talking about the prices of the coffee and, uh, that other shops have reduced their prices and so they're drawing in more customers.

All right, so the key here is to draw in. This is a phrase. Most people will know the the word to draw, you know, to to make a design on a page. But to draw in has a very special meaning. It means to attract.

Okay, so you want to attract more customers, you want to bring them into the shop, so you're trying to draw them in.

So, Marco, what's a good example of a of something that a company will do to try and draw in customers?

For example, many of you maybe have seen in fast-food restaurants when they have a promotion, like, uh, you buy one hamburger and you get another one for free. So that's maybe one of the strategies that they're trying to do to draw in customers and maybe not make money, but give people the opportunity to taste their good food.

That's right. All right. So, the next phrase we've got here is a little bit different. It's a talking about the kind of product that they have. They're talking about their coffee beans and they say that they're roasted and that they use state-of-the-art equipment to brew the coffee.

So this phrase state-of-the-art. What does this mean?

Okay, if something is state of the art, okay? Uh, we're usually talking about a machine, and we're saying that it's the latest in technology. It's very, very new, it's highly advanced, it's a very technologically advanced machine.

So for example, the new iPhone 4 is a state-of-the-art cell phone. That means it's the very highest that technology has has to offer.

And obviously, something that is state of the art is not state of the art forever because technology changes and so maybe next year there will be a new state-of-the-art telephone.

That's right. So if you notice the spelling as well, we have little hyphens between each word, state of the art because we take it as a as a chunk all together, right?

And following that, we have another phrase that is used to talk about products. They say when your when you compare the coffees we have side by side, our coffee wins against our competitors. So side-by-side.

Okay, the the phrase there is side-by-side, and they're talking about comparing coffees side-by-side. So, I think this is pretty literal, it's it's basically saying, you put two coffee mugs or or coffee cups together side-by-side, and you have people taste and then you see which one they prefer.

That's right. So, you can say this when you're making comparisons. Um, when I when I look at them side by side, I think I like the pink one more than the red one.

So you are comparing, you're literally putting them next to each other to make a choice of which one is your is your preference.

That's right.

Okay, now moving on, we have a very interesting phrase when they were talking about the company and they've achieved top-of-mind awareness when it comes to best-tasting brews.

So this phrase top-of-mind awareness, very closely related to marketing. Um, what are we talking about here?

Well, let's look at the individual words. We have top, which is on top, not on bottom. Mind, which is your head or your thinking. And awareness, which is the way that you see things. And so, uh, let's take a guess here and say that, um, when I think of a category of product, like coffee, for example, what is the first thing that comes into my mind?

That's right. So it's actually a very cool game, um, that you can sometimes play with friends. Basically just say, okay, when you think of coffee, what is the first brand that comes into your mind?

Starbucks.

Starbucks. So that, for example, shows that Starbucks has has put in you a certain top-of-mind awareness. You associate coffee with Starbucks immediately.

You don't say Costa Coffee, you don't say coffee bean or any other brand, right?

Uh, yeah, no, definitely. This is a this is a way for you to really test what companies, what, uh, corporations have the most effective marketing because obviously, they're the ones who make you think of this thing, right?

Starbucks has tons of marketing campaigns.

That's right. So it's actually very interesting. So you can say top of mind or you can say top-of-mind awareness. You can say Honda has great top of mind among their clients.

Or Ferrari has great top of mind among luxury vehicles.

That's right. Okay.

And now for the last phrase, when we talked about money again, this is a very nice colloquial way of saying that you don't have a lot of money, or money is very scarce right now.

All right. So the phrase is money is tight, all right? So you know the word tight, you can hold something tightly, or uh, this belt is tight, I'm I'm gaining weight. But in this case, money is tight, that's a phrase we take as a chunk, and it means like you say, Marco, I just don't have much money right now. So money is tight right now.

Now, it's interesting because you can say it, money is tight, and then the subject. Money is tight for Bill right now. Or you can say Bill is tight for money at the moment. So, I you can you can switch it up depending on where you put the subject towards the end or in the beginning.

That's right. So, usually you hear the phrase money is tight right now, or money is really tight, just kind of on its own. And it's a way to say, yeah, I don't have much cash.

That's right. Okay. So, we've taken a look at a lot of words and phrases here. Let's listen to our dialogue again and we'll be back to talk a little bit more.

Okay everyone, let's begin. I called you here today to evaluate our marketing strategy during this recession.

I wanted to re-emphasize our corporate mission of aiming to give our customers the best coffee and service in a clean and welcoming atmosphere.

Several other shops have been reducing their prices for their coffees, and they are drawing in more customers. Why aren't we doing the same thing?

I know that recent sales have been slow, but we are not going to reduce our prices to the level of our competitors. We offer a superior product, and our focus is on long-term growth, rather than short-term sales.

If we lower our prices, we run the risk of devaluing our product.

Customers don't care about coffee anymore. They only care about price.

We have never sought to appeal to the mass market with cheap coffee drinks, and we will not do so now.

That's true. We've certainly achieved top-of-mind awareness when it comes to the best-tasting brews, and it's important to distinguish ourselves from the competitors.

I think the main question is, how can we show our appreciation to our customers?

That's the main question I would like to discuss today.

Since the superiority of our coffee beans is one of our core competencies, why don't we sell the beans for people to brew coffee at home?

That could definitely be a way we could expand our company, but would we be undermining the essence of the company that way?

Let's brainstorm some more ideas and do some research. The customer always comes first, and what the customer wants, the customer gets. Maybe it's time we started selling coffee beans.

All right, so going back to top-of-mind awareness, let's let's uh test what uh what what brands are in your head.

Uh-oh.

Okay, so for example, when you think of a luxury sports car, what do you think?

Ferrari.

Ferrari, you mentioned it before.

Or Lamborghini.

Or Lamborghini. But you said Ferrari first.

When you think of a brand of cigarettes, what do you think?

Camel.

Camel. Okay. This is an American brand. I don't think it's very, it's found very commonly in other places.

They have it in Europe. It's very popular there. Oh, really? Yep.

Okay. What about when you think of computers, what do you think?

For some reason, IBM.

IBM. Even though you don't own an IBM.

I don't, but I grew up around the IBM, you know, revolution.

Oh, okay. See, this is interesting. So actually it doesn't always work that way that because you have a brand in your mind, it doesn't necessarily mean that you will purchase it in the future if if you have the power to, but at least you are aware of the brand and you recognize it, and the chances are that you will buy it.

That's right. And you're gonna you're gonna be familiar with it when you read about it, or, you know, when people talk about it. So, for example, I own a Mac computer, you know, Apple, but when I think of computers, I just think of IBM because you we used to say, remember, IBM compatible.

Nah, that's right. IBM compatible because before it was usually just Mac. Everything was for Mac.

Mac or IBM. And then all of a sudden it's PC or Mac.

Right, right. Um, actually, that's interesting though, because if probably if I say, what do you think of when you think of uh, what brand comes to mind when you think of MP3 players?

Apple, the iPod, right?

You probably think iPod. That's probably one of the most, uh, uh, famous ones. But maybe if you ask somebody about ten years ago, when you think about a music player, what do you think about?

Sony, the Sony Walkman.

The Sony Walkman, right? Or the Sony Discman.

That's right. Had both.

It was like, I had a Walkman, it was bright yellow.

So this is really interesting. This is the way that you see, more or less, you can start to realize what brands are in your mind and maybe unconsciously, even you may not even be a smoker, but maybe some sort of cigarette brand will be in your mind, or maybe you don't even really like sports cars, but you will have a sports car brand in your mind.

I'm very curious to hear what you guys have to say because obviously, the brands that we're aware of are dependent on where we come from and the marketing campaigns in our home countries and also our age. You know, I was I was a teenager when I had the Sony Discman, so that made an impact on me, but let's let's uh throw that out to you guys.

Let us know what you think of when we say, you know, luxury cars or MP3 players or computers.

Or maybe even basic things like detergents. Like, for example, if you ask somebody in the United States, they might say Tide. But if you ask somebody in South America, they might say, I don't know, Omo.

Omo.

Really it's it's some type of brand. So this is also very interesting to see what your local brands have been doing.

That's right. So, let us know what you're thinking. We're on EnglishPod.com. We hope to see you there.

All right. Bye.

Bye.

The English podcast audio review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

Reduce in value.

Devalue.

Showing insight and undertaking.

Discerning.

The latest and most advanced in technology.

State of the art.

Showing realization and perception.

Awareness.

To subvert or weaken insidiously or secretly.

Undermine.

Let's try that faster.

Showing realization and perception.

Awareness.

Reduce in value.

Devalue.

The latest and most advanced in technology.

State of the art.

Showing insight and undertaking.

Discerning.

To subvert or weaken insidiously or secretly.

Undermine.

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

Devalue.

How can we make our service more accessible to the masses without devaluing our product?

Devalue.

With the devaluation of the dollar, traveling overseas is now much more expensive.

Devalue.

Many luxury brands never have sales for fear of devaluing their product.

Discerning.

To the discerning shopper, quality is always better than quantity.

Discerning.

Sandra is known for her discerning taste in music and the arts.

Discerning.

The discerning drinker knows the difference between this wine and the cheaper wine.

State of the art.

We installed new state of the art machines in our factories to fulfill the recent surge in demand.

State of the art.

This company uses the most state of the art technology to make their computers.

State of the art.

The doctors used the state of the art technique to operate on her heart.

Awareness.

How can we achieve top of mind awareness in our field if we don't distinguish ourselves from our customers?

Awareness.

Through years of advertising and expansion, McDonald's has top of mind awareness when it comes to fast food chains.

Awareness.

Marlboro has top of mind awareness around, among cigarette companies.

Undermine.

He is a ruthless politician who likes to undermine his rivals in his advertising campaigns.

Undermine.

Your unthoughtful actions are undermining the legitimacy of this organization.

Undermine.

Even if you don't want to work here anymore, there's no reason to undermine the company by badmouthing it to your peers.