Post #19 - Remixing Knowledge

For this post, I watched a video that described ways in which one could talk or present similarly to Steve Jobs. The speaker in the video goes over multiple steps that reveal how to present to a group of people in the marketing world. For example, a sales manager might be presenting a product at a staff meeting. The first step in a successful presentation would be stating a clear and consistent theme. It helps to start off the meeting with a strong headline to give the audience a reason to listen. Secondly, it is smart to open and close each section or topic with a clear transition. Doing so helps the audience clearly understand each point you are making as you smoothly move on to the next one. It also helps listeners follow along with your presentation. Thirdly, it is important to "wow" the audience. This means using passionate words and tone. You don't want people to "fall into presentation mode". Therefore it's important to be excited so the audience will be too. Furthermore, when presenting with statistics, it's important to make them meaningful. In other words, it's important to include context when discussing numbers so you don't confuse your audience. It's also imperative to make your presentation visual. You don't want to bore your listeners so it's useful to SHOW the audience rather than to just TELL. Lastly, its' important to rehearse before any presentation.

The purpose of this video is to help presenters in a similar field to successfully get their point across to listers while maintaining their attention. The video uses Steve Jobs in order to compare and describe how he would successfully grab the audience's attention without losing it. The audience of this video could be anyone who needs practice presenting to a group of people, especially in the business world. The video can help business professionals in holding a successful meeting. The video is arranged with a host who describes steps in being able to hold a meaningful and clear presentation. After each step, we are shown an example of Steve Jobs presenting to a large group of people. The host used a very friendly style, and perfectly exemplified a smart way to present, himself. He used a loud voice, was very clear and used examples to keep my attention as the viewer. I enjoyed this video and I believe the steps described could help anyone in the business world who needs practice speaking when in front of a large group of people.

Work Cited:

"Present Like Steve Jobs." YouTube. BNETvideo, 17 Apr. 2008. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.

Post #18 - Continuing Experience (Free Post)

This passed weekend, I went back home to attend a meeting at my old work. Although I don't work at the store anymore, I still keep in contact with my old managers because I know that I still will want to learn more as I continue my journey on becoming a marketing major. Also, I might even go back to working there this summer. I attended this meeting because I thought it would be smart for them to update me on how they are currently running the store. It was different though, mainly because the staff was different. I enjoyed meeting them  however, especially because these will probably be the people that I could be working with this summer. Also in the meeting, the managers talked about which sales associate was doing well and who had some things to work on. When I worked here in the past, most of the meetings consisted of different ways to approach a customer and tactics on how to successfully sell to them. Thus, this was also talked about. I was happy I went to the meeting even though I no longer work at Caruso Caruso. It felt good to be up to date on how the store was being ran and how things have changed since I've left.

Post #17 - Recognizing Significance

For my prompted post this week, I read an article that discusses why it's important to focus on existing customers in the marketing world, rather than always aiming for more. Of course it's a good thing to keep adding to the list of people you sell to, however, it's better to pay more attention to the ones you already have a relationship with. The article states 3 reasons as to why this is true:

1. If you focus too much attention on a trying to gain a customer, there is a possibility that you can lose an already existing one from ignoring them. Therefore, you're back to where you started and you're still at the same number of customers if this were to happen. Not only would you be stuck with the same number of customers, but you'd be at "lower margins", which means that it costs way more to gain than it does to keep someone you've already had as a customer.
2. By focusing on existing customers only, you can actually earn more money. This is because as competitors take in new customers, your sales will climb by you paying attention to the existing customers that you have.
3. Lastly, it's much easier to sell to customers whom of which you already know and have a relationship with. Because you already know how to sell to them and what they want, it's easier to build sales this way.

The article concludes by saying there are two main points: don't lose the customers you already have and when you already have those customers, make them the priority to sell new products to. (This leads to lower cost of sales and higher momentum, according to the article).

These points relate to my own discipline, mainly because I have had to deal with customers already in my life. Circumstances were probably different than those that this article pertains to, however, they are still similar. When I worked retail, I can remember how the same customers would come back, and I would strive to help them. This is because I already knew what they liked, and I also knew what techniques work on selling the products to them. If I were to let a coworker help a customer that I have already grown used to, then I have to take more time on building another relationship with a new customer. Thus, selling to them would still be likely, but not as easy. This article also reminds me of real life situations as well. It is inevitable that we as humans will meet new people and constantly build new relationships, but it's also very important to pay much attention to the ones you already have. If you don't and you're too busy trying to make new friends, then you will always be losing a friend and making one at the same time. This is similar to when the article discusses ignoring existing customers while trying to build relationships with new ones. It will always even out.

Work Cited:

Brown, Paul B. "Want To Increase Sales? Target Your Existing Customers." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 22 Jan. 2014. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.

Post #16 - Marketing Plans for Fashion: Marketing & Advertising (Free Post)

For my free post this week, I decided to watch a video on marketing for fashion, since I have a large interest in the fashion world. I learned that a business shouldn't be just a hobby and that it should satisfy a need. In other words, it really should be treated like a job. Also, the video stated that there is no point in developing something that is already out there, unless it can be done better. It is smart to develop a marketing plan that elaborates on product development, price (cost versus value), distribution, promotion, marketing and advertising. These things are what will help catch people's attention if they are creative. Although this video was very short, it was short and sweet. Therefore, it was easy to understand. When it discussed the marketing plan for fashion, it gave me a background on the business aspect of it and what's important when working in the marketing world of fashion.

Work Cited:

"Marketing Plans for Fashion : Marketing & Advertising." YouTube. EHowFinance, 14 May 2013. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.

Post #15 - Practicing Knowledge

Over spring break, I went back to work at my old job at Caruso Caruso because they were short employees. I thought this would be good for me because I'm already trained and I thought that going back to work after my recent research on marketing would give me a new perspective of the job. Although, working retail isn't something I want to do in my future, I think it's a good start because it's interactive and has to do with the marketing world. Being hands on and actually going out into the real world to experience this was way different than just reading articles on the major. I've made mistakes throughout my entire time being apart of the staff at this store, which is a good thing because it shows me what I need to work on. Also, most of the people I work with have this job as their career. Therefore, it was beneficial for me to work alongside people who are older than me whom of which I can watch and learn from. Overall, experiencing the job myself gave me a different perspective than back when I used to work there part time. Now that I knew more about the business world, it was exciting to go back to work.

Post #14 - Where Am I Headed? (Free Post)

Thus far, I have explored the marketing world more thoroughly by completing the prompted posts each week. Therefore, I thought for my free post this week I could explore in my mind the possibilities of what I could do once I have a marketing degree. I may not have been accepted into the Broad business school yet, so I certainly don't have the marketing education that I'll hopefully be able to obtain in a few years. However, I thought it might be interesting for me to start figuring out what I want to do with my life. This has been really difficult for me to think about, though, mainly because my interests lie all over the spectrum. Firstly, because I really enjoy fashion, I thought I could end up working for the business aspect of it. Maybe be a women's buyer of a major clothing company, settle down in NYC and call it a day. Who knows right? I can only dream. Or what about getting a journalism minor, if possible, and write for a column in Nylon or Vogue? But as I ask myself these questions, I am questioning if these are realistic careers for me. Then, I realize that only I can get myself to these destinations, so I know I'll have to work hard. Furthermore, my other passion includes music. My dream come true has always been to receive an internship at Rolling Stone magazine. Being in the business school might even help with this. If I were to be in the music industry in the future, I'd probably want to work for a record label. Lastly, I enjoy the advertising world as well. I have a huge thing for the entertainment industry, television and sales. So maybe my marketing degree could take me there. This free post may seem a bit all over the place to you, but I think that's pretty normal. Especially because this free-writing was meant for me to explore my options. One of my most previous posts about the documentary I watched called Objectified, had a lot to do with design, creating and manufacture. Since I really enjoyed that, I think that could be worth looking into as well. Although I have no clue where I'm headed, I'm happy that this blog has enabled me to further explore myself as a person.