Week 16

What are some real world examples of entrepreneurial marketing?
Cold Calling: Many companies may call current customers or members of the general public, companies often simply call people up on the phone and offer them services. Even tho a company may not make a sale as a result of most of these calls, some calls will be successful, and brand loyalty is reinforced in existing customers even if they don't buy anything new. People who were previously unaware of the company might have their interest piqued by the call.

Search Engine Marketing: Creating a website that's among the top results on search engines is another way of marketing services. If a consumer is looking for a product or service for which there are a number of providers, they might simply enter keywords into a search engine and scan the results. Instead of thoroughly comparing each hit, she might choose to look only at the first few websites. Businesses structure their websites and infuse them with keywords and phrases designed to maximize their search engine ranking and garner the greatest volume of customer inquiries.

Emails:
Sending out a e-mails that announces new happenings in the company are other ways to get the company's message out. Companies might use either an established list of customers and periodically email out the publication.

Week 15

So when your thinking about opening a business, but your wondering if you should just do online business or have a store? As a small first time business owner you might think maybe I should just do an online business first to see if I'm even successful.
Let's first thing about all the cons to a instore business.
Cons:
1. Having to pay rent or buying a store can be very pricey.
2. With a building comes a lights and water bill.
3. You have to pay at least one employee. (You might always have emergency, so you would need someone to watch the store for you)
Now some of the things about an online business. One you wouldn't have as high of a start up cost. Second by having a store only you lower your potential customers. Over 1 billion people worldwide now have access to the internet. Overall depending on your business and what your selling is going to determine if you think your business would do good just being online.  Because most the time there are more benefits to just doing an online store.

Week 14

What is public relations? Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually relationships between organizations and the public. Public relations includes promotional activities that work to create a strong public image of the company.  Public relations activities include helping the public to understand the company and its products. Public relations if done right can reach a large audience without the expensive cost of traditional advertising and marketing. Public relations provide a service for the company by helping to give the public and the media a better understanding of how the company works. Within a company, public relations can also come under the title of public information or customer relations. These departments assist customers if they have any problems with the company. They are usually the most helpful departments, as they exist to show the company at their best. Public relations also helps the company to achieve its full potential. They provide feedback to the company from the public. This usually tells a company what people are the most satisfied and unsatisfied with, which can help a business tremendously. 

Week 13

What is E-marketing? Well E-marketing is the process of marketing a brand using the Internet. I think E-marketing is a great idea. I personally do a lot of online shopping and most the time I hear about a deal it's on Facebook. When implemented correctly, the return on investment (ROI) from E-marketing can far exceed that of traditional marketing strategies. I think from any owner perspective E-marketing is a great investment and would differently boost sales and the really help get the name out.

Week 11

So as a business owner how do you decide where is the best location for your business? Sometimes business owners just see an empty building as an opportunity and then other times they build their business in an open spot. Either way your business location can mean the difference between success and failure. But more than that, your business location is the linchpin for your reputation, your brand, and your profits. Here are some other factors business owners think about.

 What is your needs? Do you need a huge parking lot or a small one? Do you want a location that will provide exposure and drive foot traffic or volume to their location. Also another factor is does the location have enough population to give your business enough potential to have enough employees. Next thing is does it have a plan for growth? If your business is successful do you have more area to expand your business if need be? Lastly who is your competitors and how close are they? It could be a potential disadvantage if your located is to close to a competitor. Some people may not put much thought into why a business is where it is but more than likely the business owner put much though into it.

Week 7

Do the things at the checkout counter cause you to make impulse purchases? Yes, I would agree with that 100%. For example I went in the dollar tree just last night and went to check out there was all different favored gum... Like most places have sitting by the cash register. So of course I grab some up, I had no intention of buying gum when I went in there but it was just there as I went to check out. I would say Wal-Mart has a wide variety of stuff at the check out lines which is a great marketing idea, every little purchase counts.Another impulse purchase that happens to me is when retailers send me emails with coupons or promo codes. I couldn't tell you how many time I go online and check my email and a retail store sends me an email with a coupon or promo code and I end up making a purchase from them. Even though I didn't necessary need anything it is just the fact I love getting good deals. Another example is Papa Johns, every Monday they send an email out with a promo code for 50% off pizza. So needless to say I have Papa Johns every Monday.

Week 6

So this weeks post is about having employees to work for your business. As a manager I hire people all the time specially since I work at McDonald's and we have such a high turn over rate. But from a owners view my question would be why do we have such a high turnover rate? Is it pay, benefits, hours? Ever since the Obama health care law has took place we are not allowed to give our part time employees more than 28 hours a week. Which has really hurt our dayshift and third shift, mostly because most people only getting paid $7.25 can not live off 28 hours. To me it doesn't seem fair that Obama could make a law that would hurt companies like this. However our company has tried to manage through the change and now offers start out pay $7.75. Yes I know $7.75 is not much more but it is more than a lot of our competitors offer. But again it doesn't seem fair for Obama to enforces a law like this.

Week 4

In todays world I find that it would be so hard to create a business for many different reasons. Like for one there is so many businesses out there plus with the online world you can about buy anything offline. I was on my way to a friends wedding yesterday and I was travailing down different roads and  I came across a couple business that I didn't even know existed, which I was all the way out in Crane hill but I thought to my self how do people make enough revenue with a business way out here. Like even to this day I keep wondering to myself once I get done with school do I want to start a business or do I done want to work for a successful business. I mean what makes someone want to start a business way out in a small town when they could go to the city and make double the revenue. I'm just thinking like I work for McDonald's and the one in town is the highest grossing one in are company based off the 9 stores in our franchise. The McDonald's in dodge city is the lowest, so I think to my self if I just had one store rather it was fast food, tire and lube shop, or whatever kind of common business why would you want to open one in a small city like dodge city vs opening one in Cullman that is much more populated. I know people that own businesses in smaller towns still make money but why not go and open it in the city if you was able to make more money?

Week 3

One thing that I think companies waste money on is small signs that no one can read. Like I had one down by my house for a company that rented out bouncy houses. Well if it wasn't for the bouncy house in there front yard I would have never been able to guess what that sign said. I wanted to get a picture of it showing how bad it was but by the next time I passed by the sign was took down. However below I attached a picture of a sign that is a great example of a good sign. The font is a great size that is easy to read, also all the colors go together. Altogether a great readable sign.