Research Assessments
Research Assessment 1
The Business Symposium was a very beneficial experience. It allowed me to get practice talking to professionals and learn about their experiences. It was nice to be in a professional environment because I now know that I do well in it. The symposium was good to practice making conversation. When going around and meeting professionals, I was able to ask specific questions about what I wanted to know about them. The most beneficial information I got was their background and what they studied in college. I learned an idea about what my path should be. I also became aware of potential mentors and what to look for in one. I met one person that gave me the name of someone who worked in social media marketing for the school district. Hearing what the professionals did and where they worked helped me decide where I wanted to end up one day. I learned what specific field I want to go into and what type of company I want to work for. I really enjoyed the symposium and learned a lot.
Research Assessment 2
This article talks about what digital marketing really is and how the new marketing strategy came to be. It began as the internet was created and is now used as a tool to get consumers to trust a company. This is because the focus was being taken away from advertisements on tv, and turned to being able to research a company on the internet. Digital marketing became very valuable starting in 1997 when Google was first released to the public. This meant that consumers could now quickly look up anything they wanted. What was different about Google, though, was how it sorted the search results. This is a major component of digital marketing as websites are sorted by popularity and relevance, so now companies had to work harder to gain a great reputation. After Google was created, the next source of digital marketing was through AOL and Email, starting in 1995. It was popular because it was easy and cheap to reach out to consumers. Next, along with blogs, social media became very popular. Companies were able to market to consumers easily as user information was being sold from social media sites. This information helped companies figure out how to market to a specific audience and reach out to anyone they wanted to. This meant that the majority of advertisements were now seen online, not just on a tv screen.
Digital marketing today is even more popular. Every company now has to create an image online as it is found that traditional marketing isn’t as effective. Audio has recently become very valuable because it is able to be listened to while the consumer is doing something else. In order to move into the future and still be successful in digital marketing, companies must predict what will continue to be and what will become popular in the digital world. They must be prepared by coming up with new strategies to appeal to audiences online. One example of this is changing the payment process. It is believed that companies that focus on a continuous relationship with the customer (even after they leave the store), they will be more successful. This means that in order to grow, companies must think of everything that could affect a consumer’s experience and make it so they feel at ease during the buying experience.
Research Assessment 3
This article discusses how important data is in determining how to market a product. Using past data allows companies to use predictive programs to guess how a product and marketing campaign will benefit the company. I learned that key performance indicators (KPIs) show companies how their campaign performed, and they are able to measure its success. When you have KPIs, companies are able to see if they are meeting their goals. Data that is collected also helps determine the type of audience a campaign attracts and what they interact with on your digital campaign. This includes seeing if customers are using emails, advertisements, or the company website. Businesses look at Starbucks to see a great example of how using data works. They use their app to track times, drinks, and other preferences that are most popular. This allows them to target their marketing campaigns to their audience more specifically. Using all of this data allows companies to determine if their methods are working. They are able to look back at past campaigns and decide what works best for driving profits for their company. Most believe that if a company is not collecting consumer data from their marketing strategies then it’s a waste. I agree with this because it is always beneficial to know what is effective. If you don’t learn from your past successes/failures then you won’t ever get better. The data collected is vital to the success of a marketing campaign and allows you to strengthen your marketing strategies. I liked hearing about how Starbucks collects their data and uses it to help their company grow. This example gave real-world applications so that using consumer data made a little more sense. I find it very smart to use the data to find out the most popular products and stores. It allows you to come up with ideas for drinks to display on campaigns and how to reach out to customers at different stores. I think everyone in the marketing world should learn about these uses of consumer data because they will only benefit a company and make them grow.
Research Assessment 4
This article gives a few tips on how to start your own event planning business and grow your success. First, you have to get your company name out there, especially if you are starting your own business. This can be supported by having a user-friendly website. I really enjoy this aspect of marketing as it involves design. It is a great goal to have because, without a user-friendly website, customers won’t be inclined to stay on the site and learn more about your company. Plus, a pretty website will always attract and keep customers as it gives the company a positive image and connects the joy felt when on the website with the company. Specifically, when an event planner designs a website, it gives customers a sense of your business’ style without having to meet you in person. In order to spread your company name, you also need other marketing techniques. This can include old techniques like business cards and posters, and new techniques like using social media. Business owners often also use email newsletters and blogs. Through marketing, the most important aspect is proving you are able to execute a successful event. This can be done through past customers explaining their experiences with your company and photos of past events. Another way to get your company name out in the market is to volunteer. This will allow others to see your skills and will create a demand for your service. This is how many business owners start their journey to become a successful event planner. Event planning can be hard to get into. When starting your own company, it takes a lot of hard work to make your name well-known. I used to be interested in marketing and advertising, but my focus has slightly shifted to event planning. This could be for a specific company or even at an event planning firm. I have learned that marketing does play a large role in planning events. These events can be used to market a company. For example, Sprite had an event to spread their name. On the other hand, marketing can be used when trying to get your own business to be well known. This shows that there are a lot of different skills that play into event planning, so there is not only one path to become a successful planner.
Research Assessment 5
Event planning seems to be a very meticulous, but rewarding career. You get to use your creativity, knowledge, and experiences to help plan the best event for the client or your company. However, efforts will go to waste if an event isn’t planned properly. There are certain criteria and tasks that must be done. Without them, the event will fail or your intended goals will not be met. This being said, knowing the mandatory tasks and stepping stones to planning an event are vital to planning a successful event. As I am new to the world of event planning, I am unaware of these specific details, so I found this list describing how to plan an event.
Step 1 is to create a timeline and figure out your goals. These goals could include growing your brand awareness or gaining new customers. The main date on your timeline to set is the date the event will happen. You must set it far enough away to ensure you will have a large attendance. It is also important to set a date outside of the peak event season if you want to keep your costs low. Step 2 is to set a budget. This is set so you know how much you can spend on things like a venue, staff, catering, decorations, and more. The 3rd step is to find a venue. It is important to consider the location depending on who is attending as some attendees might have to travel a long way and the size of the event. It may also be important to consider security and safety in the venue. Step 4 is to find the proper technology. Some use technology to send invitations, create signs for the event, keep track of attendance, and even market the event. Technology is purchased in order to create a better experience by being very user-friendly. The next step is to partner with vendors and other companies. If you use your own vendors, it is important to think of where they will stay, for example. You might need vendors for food, entertainment, security, and special offers. A potential goal is to find a partner. This would allow you to split the costs of the event and allow brand awareness to grow for all companies involved. Step 6 involves deciding what the main activity/attraction is. This could be speakers, an awards ceremony, etc. This all depends on your goals and what will appeal to your audience. Next, you must come up with how the event will be marketed. This could be through emails and social media, and your marketing campaigns must be tied around your main theme for the event. The final step is to make connections with those who come to your event. The event should be designed with this goal in mind. This can be done by handing out magnets, pens, notepads, etc. causing attendees to continue to think about your company. You can also send out a survey to see the impact of the event.
These steps are very important to set up the building blocks of your event. After making these decisions, you can begin to be more creative and really personalize the experience. Creating your event around your goals seems to be the most important task as this allows you to get the most out of your event.
https://blog.capterra.com/how-to-plan-an-event-a-10-step-guide/
Research Assessment 6
On January 15, 2020, Frisco ISD had their Winter Showcase. It was very interesting to go and look at all of the career choices each student had chosen. Because there were about 10 high schools there, the display boards filled up the room. There were so many students to talk to and so many diverse careers you could learn more about. There were topics that I had never heard of before, and some that were really interesting to hear about. The most uncommon topic I saw was Binder Organization. Her board looked very professional and represented her topic well, but it was a unique choice in my opinion. I had never heard of a career like that before. I also saw a lot of aviation boards, which I find very compelling to hear about. I am curious about how they find their mentors and what each meeting looks like. I talked to a girl who is studying graphic design, and I loved her presentation because I was able to see physical examples of what she had created. I also spoke to a girl going into culinary arts. It was a topic that was fun and original as not many people study it during this program. My favorite original work came from a girl who is studying orthodontics. Her mentor created a points system for his office, but the student quickly found issues with the program and set out to fix them. The orthodontics office had to buy physical coins for the points, which is an extra expense, and many patients would forget to bring them to their appointments. In order to solve these problems, the student created an online system that would fit into the office’s current computer program. This program allows the points to be digital and allowed the staff to store and look up the points collected from each patient. This program eliminates the extra cost of physical coins and allows patients to look forward to earning points as they are more accessible at every visit. I found my experience at Frisco’s Winter Showcase to be a beneficial and fun experience that I would love to go to again.
Research Assessment 7
I wanted to read this article because it discusses how to strategically build a website. This is important to me because I will potentially be creating a website as part of my final project. I wanted to learn what is involved in making an effective website.
The article says that a website is important to spread brand awareness and promote your services. It is a great way to spread your portfolio and experience. It is essential to have a strategy if you want to see results, and an effective website can be achieved in 5 steps. First, determine your website goals. These goals guide what information you put on your website and allow you to measure your website’s success. Step 2 is to create a design for the website. Determine what content to include. If you are trying to sell products or your company, add pictures of your products and ways customers can contact you. Next, you have to understand your audience. You have to understand what will appeal to your targeted audience and interest them in your business. Step 4 is to promote the value of your company, and to promote what your company brings to the table. You must convey why your company is better than another. The final step is to make sure that your website is effective. It is recommended to measure success every 3 to 6 months.
I would like to use these strategies to market a company for my final project. I would use videos to show the skills of the company and create pages of information that would be useful to the customer. This article gave me the guidance to create my website, and it taught me how to make it effective to spread the company’s image.
Research Assessment 8
My mentor is VP of Marketing and Merchandising for a convenience store company. The coronavirus has affected what he does on a daily basis, but not his job security. Because he works in the convenience store business, they have been deemed essential and are allowed to keep their stores open. However, the coronavirus has cut the number of customers they see daily. My mentor is working on ways to overcome this hardship. Mainly, he is working to change prices in order to bring customers in. He is also overseeing promotions that may be affected by the virus and is in touch with vendors. His main task right now is to come up with strategies to increase sales and the number of customers that come into their stores. There were other projects my mentor was working on, including the new rewards program. This release has now been delayed, so he is no longer working on its release. His main goal right now is to figure out how to keep the sales stable during the coronavirus pandemic instead of focusing on projects related to future growth.
The coronavirus has affected what people in marketing are doing for their companies. Again, there are very few projects involving the future growth of a company. What most people are focusing on right now is how to maintain sales and attempt to raise the sales numbers to what they were before the pandemic. In my opinion, those in marketing are essential to business right now, and there is not much worry in the marketing departments’ failing to survive. Marketing departments are now coming up with ways to maintain sales, whether this be through free shipping, new promotions, sales, etc. When specifically looking at the convenience store business, there is not much chance of all stores closing. Depending on how the corporate office is succeeding during this time, there may be employees laid off, a few stores closing, or even a corporate office closing. However, it is unlikely that those involved in running convenience stores will lose their entire company. People rely on convenience stores for their groceries. As they have been deemed essential, convenience stores have a great chance to survive despite the virus. They will still have customers even if they have less than in the past, which is where the marketing teams’ strategies come into play.
Even though a pandemic of this magnitude may not come again in my lifetime, it has shown me how essential marketing teams are to the success of a business. I have learned that they will always be needed, as they know how to respond to what is happening in the world. I have more respect for what those in marketing do for a living, and I realized how uncertain it is. This pandemic also confirms that an abundance of strategy is needed in this profession. Marketing seems to be a very secure field as there will always be a want to drive sales despite what is going on in the world. One question I have is how lower-level marketing employees are being affected. As my mentor is a VP in Marketing and Merchandising, he knows his job is safe unless the entire company fails to survive. His company does not have lower-level employees involved in marketing so I have not directly seen how this has affected them. I think that this all depends on how the company is doing, though. Of course, if the company is struggling due to money constraints some people will be laid off, but, again, upper-level employees do not seem to have to worry about this.
Research Assessment 9
This article caught my attention, not only because it touched on branding, but because it discussed branding a state. When thinking about creating a brand, we often think of a business. I had never realized that states have a brand image, either naturally or by forming the image they want to present to the world.
This year, the state of Oklahoma has undergone a change to their brand. They have coined “Imagine that” and redesigned their logo. It symbolizes the sky, water, and agriculture with the colors they selected. They also included a star and chevron print into the logo to represent America, the original state flag, and the military. It is also said to represent the state’s diversity. The Oklahoma government is hoping to increase tourism and bring in employees, saying “We are not a flyover state”. In order to launch their new brand, they paid a Canadian company $259,063.93 to be their project manager. In order to brainstorm what would make up the new brand, focus groups full of volunteers were held. People in Oklahoma believe that they truly encompass what America is. They like to argue that the American Dream is alive in Oklahoma, and it is one of the most diverse states in America. Now, they have hired a brand manager who will work with Oklahoma’s government agencies to rebrand every website and state sign.
I enjoyed reading this article because it gave me a new idea of the vastness of a brand manager’s career. As a brand manager, there are so many unique job opportunities. There are ways to work for yourself, for other brands, and even for the government. I think that the logo they designed is a great representation of the state, and this article emphasized the importance of receiving feedback from your target demographic. I also found it interesting how expensive it is to hire both brand and project managers.
Research Assessment 10
As I look into what type of career I want to pursue, graphic design is continuing to stick out as a first step into my future. The only problem is, I want a career in which I work for a company and can move up within the company. Because of this, becoming a freelance designer is not my goal. There are so many paths I can take with a graphic design degree, so I have been looking into what might be the best fit for me. Currently, I am focused on UX/UI Design. The basics of these jobs are to focus on the user’s experience with your platform (UX Design) and to create the platform (UI Design). I want to learn all about the jobs, though, and figure out what they really entail.
This article describes misconceptions about the UX/UI Design field. The first misconception is that these jobs are the same. They describe two separate jobs, but they are not exclusive. Ideally, you want UI to be encompassed by UX strategies, and to always have both in mind when designing. The next misconception is that UX/UI Design is all online and related to digital software. This is incorrect because you can find UX Design anywhere as most designs relate to a user’s experience. For example, you must brand a company with users in mind. The software is just the top layer of UX/UI Design. There are many other layers of planning and creating without the use of digital software. The third misconception is that UX design is all about the users, when, in fact, it is also about meeting business goals and the understanding of bringing about a product. The next misconception is that design is only related to design. This is not true because you need a lot of skills and strategies in mind when designing. For example, you need evidence, psychology, experimentation, and creativity, just to name a few. The fifth misconception is that design is optional. This is incorrect because you need UX/UI design to avoid and solve issues related to your users. Doing this will help achieve business goals and bring success to the company. Finally, a silly misconception is that all designers wear black, which, of course, is not true.
Looking into the misconceptions about UX/UI design is helpful because it clears up some ideas I even had about the job. I learned that these jobs have an emphasis on digital software, but it is not the main focus of the career, as there is planning needed before technology can be brought into the design. I also learned that design must think about business goals as well as design goals. This is a helpful article to read, and allowed me to really learn what this job could bring if I ever became a UX/UI Designer.
https://thenextweb.com/podium/2020/04/02/6-common-misconceptions-about-ux-ui-designers/