Who are you talking with?

Most seniors are faced with the daunting task of hunting down a "real" job after college if they decide that this be the path for them.  I jumped on that bandwagon but had no idea where to start. I had been told by many people that networking was the way to go about the beginning to my search.  I was pretty fed up with sending out emails and calling alumni to try and contact other people that had been suggested to me.  My initial feelings were that i was wasting my time just speaking with people and not inquiring about jobs and not lining up interview after interview.  My opinion on the benefit of networking with people began to instantly change once i began getting through answers to my questions and advice that i never knew before.  I was able to sit down with a marketing manager at Burton who opened my eyes to much advice that was pretty obvious but most people never take into consideration.  I also learned a lot about the field i would love to enter at some point in my life.  These alumni that are in fields that in positions that sound appealing are the best way to understand what that position entails in their industry and size company.

Networking is certainly something that i am sure a lot of other students avoid before searching for jobs. In addition alumni are always excited to help out current students who need help figuring out where to move forward to after school or even during school.    My advice is keep talking because you never know who will be connected to someone that has the job of a lifetime for you.

Click Here

How often do you take the time to read an online ad? do you simply pass over them, or do you click them if they seem interesting?  I personally will rarely click on an ad unless it truely sparks my interest. Curiosity usually doesnt get the best of me. With so many more people with acess to the web these ads are key and are now everywhere from ads before videos on youtube, to user specific ads on facebook.

In order to keep track on how sucessful or the reach of an ad google is now coming up with a new metric system that is "active".  They want to achive instant results from these metric systems.

http://mashable.com/2012/04/18/google-new-online-ad-metrics/

 I personally thik that this is a very smart move by google becuase of the need for accurate data, and getting data to companies fast so that they can determine how much to spend on internet advertising.

Google boosting its own business by prompting more spending on online ads and helping companies spend more efficiently.

Will it Blend?

I was reading through prdaily and came across an article which focused on  the success of a company called Blendtec.  This company is the prime example of a business that chose to make an attracting  repetitive video that never failed to amaze its viewers.  The videos featured one of blentec's newest blenders and random objects.  Its easier if you watch it than me explaining it

This is one of many viral videos that drew instant popularity to Blendtec.  These videos are unmatched in their marketing gold.  It seems as though if a company is able to create a great video that captivates audiences, you are bound to see an increase in sales.  With so many people using smart phones these days viral videos like this one become popular in a matter of hours, where in the past it might take a few days.  Our instant access to online content has sped up the marketing process.  If your video is gold, its going to become extremely poplar instantly and the same goes in regards to a poor video, people will put it away faster than ever before.

A downside i have seen to this instant content viewing is that these videos have a much shorter life cycle.  It seems as though most marketing strategies do.  The majority  has viewed a popular video in 3 days.  I am drawn to believe that we will only see the life span of viral videos and marketing campaigns become shorter and shorter.

http://prdaily.com/marketing/Articles/11223.aspx

Non Profits still advertising in powerful ways

One of my roomates is an english major and has recently been working once a week at a local radio station interviewing the bands that come into the studio to play live and promote their music.  This radio station is a non profit station is is done purely to keep local music alive and promoted.  I is amazing and awesome(in my opinion) that this radio station is helping to advertise local bands for free!  In todays' current marketing world, its extremely hard to promote your product for free over a public forum except for social media.  Especially in the music world, radio spots dont come along very often for small local bands that have great music.  This is a radio station that promotes music because they care about spreading new quality sounds, they dont look to profit off of the songs they play.  I cant think of other companies that do this type of promotion and simply to help get the word out for many clients.  Free advertising still exists if you can find it.

New Breed Marketing

Over the past 2 months I have been working as an intern at New Breed Marketing as an even coordinator.  New Breed has a variety of different , which mostly focus on business-to-business marketing strategies.  I work under their main account, which is UVM Continuing Education.  This program at UVM controls the Summer and winter courses that are offered to any college student, and high school students looking to catch up, or get a head, with their credits.  Over the past  two months some of my duties have included radio ad under writing for the various programs that are offered through their ‘Summer U’ program, creation of product giveaways to aid in drawing attention to the summer programs.  In addition I have been  involved in the brainstorming process for new events, slogans, and new social media strategies.  At times I feel as though I am not doing very much at  New Breed, waiting for a new task or the approval of someone higher up in the organization.  Overall I admit that I might not enjoy the event coordinating aspect of this account, but I have not eliminated the idea of event coordinating in an industry I have a passion for.  Everyone at New Breed Marketing is very knowledgeable and approachable which makes for a comfortable working environment.  The head of the company speaks almost every Thursday morning to the entire office and I have found this to be the time when I am learning the most.  Last week he spoke of brand equity and how this intangible aspect of a business is what New Breed Is moving towards focusing on for future accounts. He noted the positioning of New Breed Marketing, itself, for the future as well and how we want to ensure clients that we understand what they do and how we work efficiently to assist them in teaching them how to better market their business.    Emotion is a large portion of trying to win the business of doing work for a company that wants to better their position in the market.  It is a big deal for a person bringing in an outside firm, and  a very emotional decision as well.   Will their job be at risk if this doesn’t work out, will this be a partnership that will boost the company or cost it thousands of dollars? 

                I have enjoyed working in a small business because I am able to get a better feel for how everything operates.  I see the communication with clients and the interaction between account managers and the design team.  In the future I hope to understand more of the relationship with the clients and how an account manager works with the client to transform their needs into what New Breed is capable of doing.

Retro?

As i was reading through PR Daily i noticed the title of an article about signs that you grew up in the 90's which made me think in a tangent.  We inherently feel attached to the decade that we grew up in. Granted we could split the trends that were most popular by age to some extenet but for the most part each decade has seen major trends that defined it.  It made me think about how sentimental people get when they see things from their past.  Might we be more inclined to buy something if it was a modern play on past trends.  It seems like everyone is trying for the new designs and futuristic world in which commercials take place.  there are some companies that have gone back and featured some retro designs which seem to grab the attention of the consumer.  Would you be more inclined to buy something that made you feel nostalgic?


http://prdaily.com/Main/Articles/10929.aspx

Jay Peak moving in the right Direction

This past friday i had the pleasure of heading up to jay peak to take advantage of the new snow that had fallen up there and the discount group rate at the water park.  If you havent heard yet, jay peak just recently build the largest indoor waterpark on the east coast, and the most fun water park on the east coast as well.  Jay peak does alot of advertising on TV with commercials featuring the idea of rasing your family and growing up with jay being an imporant part of life.  Their commercials are well done and feature a great slogan  'Raise 'em Jay'.   Since the water park opened in conjuction with a brand new hotel, everyone that i have spoken that has vitited ranted and raved about how much fun they had.  I had seen the water park advertised in different magazines, newspaper articles and through discounts offered with lift tickets.  Jay has added a perfect addition to what the mountain has to offer and now have a huge competitive advantage over the other mountains in the area. We were able to ski nearly a full day then hit the waterpark untill we were too tired to continue.  If you have a day free and want to mix things up a bit this winter then take the trek to jay.

http://www.7dvt.com/2011jay-peak-pump-house-water-park