Target Market- Week 4

I will be promoting a business called Native Wine Rocks for the duration of this class.  These are one of a kind wine racks made of stone.  The target market are the following:

People between the ages of over 35 of higher income (Mainly women)

People with Discretionary Income

Wine Collectors / Enthusiasts

Art Collectors / Enthusiasts

Decorators

Anyone for Gift Idea

Wineries for resale

Wineries / Restaurants for Decor

Hotels for Décor in Gift Shops

Wine Clubs

Wine Festivals

Bars specialize in wine

Wine lovers 

Week 3 - 2 Sites that I visit frequently

www.craigslist.com

I think craigslist is effective because it’s really the only one its kind.

It is laid out very self-explanatory and simple.

I personally come back to this site because I’m slightly obsessed with finding little treasures at a fraction of the price.   I also think it is a good site to find services around different cities, places to live and job prospects.

I keep coming back because it’s easy and simple.

Sounds funny, but I don’t’ think anything is wrong with this site.  I know they don’t’ have any social media outlets, but I don’t think they need any… maybe that is a bad example because this is a social media class.

www.hm.com

I think this site is effective because it is laid out very well. 

I think they’re effective because they cater to a little bit of everyone…Women, men and kids.

The categorized pictures help make it easy to see what section you can click on.  They also have an inspiration section where they put looks together for you which helps you visualize what pieces look like together.

I subscribe to their email blasts and they always seem to have something fresh or a sale that they are promoting and it always to seem like something I would be interested in. 

If I had to pick something to be improved upon, I would say their social media site links could be more noticeable.

Week 3- Aesthetics, Design & Branding

I chose two opposites from the list provided. 

http://tectorch.com

Three potential problems:

This website for me is way too busy.

The font is small with too much going on and they are trying to fit too much information on the home page. 

They have no social media outlets on the site either.

I’m not seeing a logo or anything that is a branding piece for this company.

When you first look at it, it’s little overwhelming.  I feel it could be improved by organizing the information on different tabs/ pages.  For example, an about us tab, testimonial tab, new products, etc.  All of this is on the home page.  I feel it needs to be cleaned up. Plus when you click on the tabs on the side, it looks like a catalog was scanned in to show the information.  

The only thing I think they have done right is to have pictures.  Everyone loves pictures and especially for torches they need to know what kind they are buying and the specs on them; however, I’m not seeing any pricing.

http://apple.com

This one is the completely opposite than the previous, as it is very organized.  I like the white color as it’s very calming and adds to the simplicity of it even though the site itself offers a lot of information.

Three potential problems:

I do notice the do not have any social media outlets on their site.

It would be helpful to have the phone number on the top.

Not sure I can pick out another one…

I feel that apple got their website right.  It is very easy to maneuver around and the information is easy accessible.  You get a list of their products and can go into each page separately which offers further information.      

I feel this site is more welcoming. It definitely portrays their slick aesthetic.  Plus it features apple’s current hottest product on their home page which is easy to find because this is possibly what the majority of their customers are currently looking for.  This picture most likely changes when they have their new products come out.

Week 2

I personally have not had difficulty communicating with a business (that I can remember); however, I am going to use an example of something that that my friend recently experienced. 

She had set to get married in May 2014 and had hired a florist who she gave a deposit to of $3,500 in January.  About 90 days before the wedding and plenty of time for the florist to find new business for that date, she had to postpone the date until 2015. 

At this time there were no flowers that have been ordered or any services that have been rendered.  Now, 6 months later from postponing, she has not set the new wedding date yet; however, she has been asked to throw a baby shower for her friend this weekend that she will need to order flowers for.  I had suggested asking the florist to utilize some of the deposit given for her wedding towards the new order and after 8 days of sending an email there was still no response.  She decided to give her a call and the florist told her she was not able to use the money toward the new event; however, she would give her 20% of what she paid toward her wedding date if she was available that date. 

I read the contract and it says “Should you cancel your event in entirety, or for any other reason you discharge Adorations, you are responsible for the full amount of contracted services, unless the time can be rebooked”. 

This just seems to be bad business to me.  She is not cancelling her event…she is trying to rebook her time.  She is also trying to give her additional business for the baby shower.  Plus, ‘if’ she is available on her new wedding date she still is losing out on $2,800.  Not to mention, if the florist is not available on her wedding date, she loses out on the full $3,500; even though, she is not cancelling her…the florist would be cancelling her because she would not be available.   

I use this example because this just happened this week and since I am taking this class it is the most opportune time to see what social media can do.  I feel that if I begin to blog, yelp or facebook about her business practices she would offer to use more of her deposit toward her new date.  On the other hand, it just may piss her off, resulting in not getting the 20% return.  Possibly we will soon see the result and find out if making people aware of the situation makes her realize that her decision was a bad call and it should be rectified to please her customer. 

Sunday Night Assignment, Week 1

It has always seemed to me that the social media platforms geared toward personal use were Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and that blogging and Linkedin would be mostly geared toward business use; however, I am now seeing more that they all are really intertwined.  

Being that the main reason for using online marketing is to drive traffic to your site we can use all these platforms to do that by going where your market is and start building your businesses online presence much like we do for ourselves.  For instance we tag our friends in pictures, if we tag other businesses or locations that our target market is interested in or follow, wouldn't this be a beginning of capturing a wider audience?

Week 1 Blog

Hello,

For week 1 I chose this template because it said it was the 'simple' version.  I am very new to blogging, as I have never done it before and I am hoping after a few times on here I will become more comfortable and 'upgrade' my blogging style.

Looking forward to learning more!