Growth is Always Good!

Linked above is my canva E-Portfolio postcard! Thanks for another great semester!

For quite some time, it has felt like I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life. I know I have a passion for selling and for creating content and branding, but I wasn’t sure what route I wanted to take within the marketing world. After looking back on my previous blog posts, it’s more evident that I have a passion for helping people and am confident in my communication and organizational skills. I have always wanted to do social media marketing and management, but lack a few of the skills to be able to perfect and land a job in that field. I also lack the discipline and motivation to go above and beyond to ensure that I do end up in that field, but because of the PDP, I set realistic goals for myself in order to achieve my ultimate goal for social media management.

PDP MKT180

For this reflection, I am sharing the essay and video I created for our Informational Interview Project.

Zane Champie Interview

(my video wouldn’t upload)

1. Share your key insights from everything you learned about Buyer Personas this week.

One of the most important things I learned about Buyer Personas is that not everyone is going to want to be your customer right away. That’s why it is so important to learn about your buyers and about their interests.

Another key point I learned is that customers have to know and understand the product that you are trying to sell them before you even offer it. They need to be able to want to have your product already by understanding what your product does.

2. Choose the company you currently work for OR a company/nonprofit you would love to work for in the future. Develop at least one persona for their target audience. Perhaps it’s a company or brand where YOU are the target audience (buyer) and you create a Buyer Persona about “you.”

I currently work at Aerie which is owned by American Eagle Outfitters.

Faith is a frequent customer at Aerie and American Eagle. She is a mom of 2, is married to a Lawyer and works as an OBGYN nurse. She likes to come in when there are great deals going on, like when leggings and tees are on sale. She usually spends around $200 every time she comes in, which is once or twice a week. She is always wear Aerie or AE when she’s not in scrubs, and also buys her kids clothes when she comes in, too. She loves our workout clothes because she loves to work out and do yoga in the mornings, and when she goes on runs with her husband. She also likes our lounge clothes for days off work when she has time to read and have downtime.

What insights did you glean from the webinar you attended/watched? How will/can you apply these new insights/knowledge?

I watched the 2020 Marketing Trends Nonprofits need to know webinar and I learned quite a few marketing trends that are beneficial in and out of nonprofits. Firstly, she talked about the importance of videos and how they add a personal aspect to your nonprofit. If you have a video explaining your purpose behind what you’re doing, that is authentic and shows your character, and is more compelling for the viewers to want to donate to your cause. Videos also help you build connections with your viewers and help establish a relationship with possible donors online. Another important marketing trend is the facebook donation option. Adding your nonprofit as one that can be donated to for someone’s birthday can be a huge asset to your project. Since facebook is so commonly used, it is so easy for someone to share your nonprofit for their birthday and suddenly, you have hundreds of dollars in donations. That is something I never thought twice about before this webinar!

Part 2:

Shown above is the social media ad I created for Ellen’s Bridal Shop. I chose to do her small business because of how much potential it has if it were showcased more on social media. I used Canva to create this ad and added a photo of wedding dresses that looked very similar to ones that were shown in Ellen’s Bridal Shop. Since wedding dresses are primarily white, I made this advertisement with creamy colors to accent the idea of weddings and to showcase class within the shop. I added a slogan that fits really well with the message this shop displays and wants the world to know. Since it was discussed on the show that local businesses were going to come together to create a bridal package for brides who are traveling in to buy a wedding dress, I added below a line that will draw in our audience of bridal parties and future brides who are looking for a place to find the perfect dress.

Many brides today are looking for modern style dresses that Ellen’s Bridal Shop offers, but many people don’t know about. I would use this ad to target my audience by showcasing these beautiful dresses that Ellen’s Bridal Shop carries in similar styles to drawn in potential buyers and also talk about the potential deals and packages the shop has available as well. I would advertise this on Instagram on the bridal shop’s page, on their website as a paid ad and on facebook as a promoted ad and in the facebook groups that are primarily for brides.

1. LinkedIn Learning (Sales Fundamentals + Preparing for a Career in Sales): What similarities did you notice between Sales Fundamentals and Marketing Fundamentals (Week 7)? Which part of the sales cycle are sales professionals typically the weakest? Based on the wisdom shared in “Preparing for a Career in Sales,” what specific tips/areas do you think will be most important for you to remember/work on personally?

I noticed that a big similarity between Sales Fundamentals and Marketing fundamentals is how we as a salesperson approach sales. Marketing is about changing someone’s belief, but first we must change our own. It also discusses how we as salespeople have to be credible and trustworthy in order to obtain sales. The part of the sales cycle that is typically the weakest is asking for the purchase. After gaining trust of the customer, it can be difficult to move into the final sale of asking for the buy. Personally, I think that something I definitely need to work on and will take with me is being authentic, and not conforming to the people around me. It’s hard for me to be myself at work for fear of being judged, or being criticized. I also think that I could work on developing a better self confidence. Whenever good things happen to me, I never let myself be proud or excited, rather I think that I don’t deserve them, and this negative mindset won’t get me far in the business world.

2. Sandler Training: Which training/webinar topic did you watch? Why does what you learn, matter? How will it help you in your career?

I watched the Power of Mindfulness webinar. This is so important because mindfulness with having a business gives you the opportunity to enjoy what you do and to keep your stress levels low. In order to achieve mindfulness in your business, it’s important to do personal development and to continue to take care of yourself through different ways such as meditation, that help with lowering stress, creating more creativity, and giving you the opportunity to grow more in your career and to grow more as a person. This will help me in my career by giving me the opportunity to not only take time for myself and to grow on a personal level, but it will help me enjoy my job and appreciate it more instead of dreading it.

3. Restart 2021: What sessions/speakers did you attend? How could you apply/practice/test what you learned? What connection(s) did you make (networking)?

I attended the Essentials of Event planning session with Gianna Gaudini, who I was also able to connect with and talk to about event planning, as it interests me quite a bit since I like to do things virtually and it isn’t usually considered an event if it isn’t in person. She is a famous event planner who actually published a book on the importance of event planning. She discusses how in any event it is important to establish goals, and then to create an aesthetic around your main goals. I think that really set in for me because I didn’t consider the event planning side of marketing, though it could be an important and essential part to my future career.

1. What stood out to you during the Marketing Fundamentals mini-course?

That marketing is about changing beliefs. I never truly thought about it that way until I watched these videos and the way that strategic marketing is broken down essentially is about changing our customers beliefs about a topic and persuading them to forms their own beliefs that are influenced by our actions.

2. What course(s) caught your attention in LinkedIn Learning (Click Browse (Links to an external site.) next to the search bar) that would fit into your Professional Development Plan and Career Goals? How could you fit this into your schedule? Will you?

The courses I would be the most interested in taking would be social media marketing and content marketing. These would fit into my career goals and professional development plan because my future goal career is to be a social media manager. I could fit this into my schedule by doing it between classes and work, and I am strongly considering doing it.
3. Small Business Revolution: Wabash (S1E1)  Out of the six businesses to be featured in Season 1, which one would you be most interested in helping as a marketer? What did you think about, learn from, relate to in this first episode?

I would be most interested in helping Thriftalicious because thrifting is something that the younger generation is interested in and is really popular nowadays. It could be really beneficial to making this small town more popular to younger audiences.  I learned a lot about the conflicts going on in small towns and how special small towns are to those who grew up in them.

Virtual Internship notes

Part 1 – Share a summary of what the webinar was about and who was interviewed. What insights or ideas did you learn? What jobs/careers are you curious about now after hearing Marnie speak? What were her recommendations?

Marnie Nathanson was interviewed and she is the CEO of a company called The Social Status CO. A 360 degree agency based in NJ. Her background is in television marketing.

I learned that it is important to do research about the company and people you are interested in interning/working for so that you know exactly what it is you want to learn from them. Knowing about the person you’re speaking to helps ease the conversation along and shows that you care about the job as well. Marnie has inspired me a lot with what she does and how levelheaded she is when it comes to knowing different apps and programs as well. I think she has definitely inspired me to work for a company that is similar to hers or even her company as well.

Danny asked Marnie questions about her website after doing research about her so he could pose questions that would be of importance to us. He asked questions about some of her events and what role her company plays in creating and hosting these events.

I observed that Danny gives us more information by doing his own research before having a guest on his zooms so that his audience can gain the absolute most helpful information about his guest and optimizes the most information and experience for his audience as well.

Part 3 – Who would you like to do your Informational Interview with this semester? Start drafting up 5 – 10 questions you would ask them.

If I had to choose someone to do a virtual interview with, I would honestly choose Marnie because she is in the exact field that I want to go into in the future and the way she describes her goals and how much she has accomplished inspires me completely.

My 5 questions would be:

• How did you build your company and team of employees off of a basic level of trust?
• What other apps and programs have helped you succeed in your industry?
• Do you solely use one social media platform or have you had successes in others?
• Do you run your own instagram business or just other peoples?
• Do you have any side businesses, or blogs as well?