Utilizing What I Have Learned

It is not a bad thing to admit.  Many of us have forgotten well over half of the information we learned in our graduate and undergraduate programs.  It is only human nature as most of us aren’t capable of holding every bit of information we come across.  Over the different courses, books, and lessons, we are given so much information that everything just gets thrown into a pot.  What we end up with are the key points that we feel are important.

Recently the small business I work for decided to close down my store and condense all resources into one store.  As the manager of one of the locations the owners had to make a decision of whether or not to keep me or let me go.  The final decision was to utilize my knowledge in marketing to help the business get back to where it was many years ago.  That said they have given me the reins for all of their marketing.  I don’t have a problem holding the position.  But I do have a problem trying to decide where to start.  After so many courses in marketing there are numerous ways that I can begin marketing for a company that has done little to nothing promoting themselves.

I decided to look over every old assignment within the IMC program at West Virginia University.  The only issue is that every assignment has revolved around larger companies with large amounts of money.  My budget is going to be very slim and require a lot of convincing.  When you go from putting nothing into marketing to having a manager ask for marketing funds it is a big change for any type of ownership. Because of that, I have been forced to create a low budget plan that will eventually [if it all works] generate business for the company.  Obviously I will be digging through old assignments and books to ensure I complete everything correctly as far as execution goes.  Below are the steps I intend to use.

1. Survey all customers possible through a paper survey in store that puts them in the running for a gift card of $50.  This will be based on how they found out about the business, the best way to reach them [email, social media, etc], what their interest are, and more.  The survey will take about the same time as it would to complete a transaction.
2. Ask online customers to fill out a survey after purchases.
3. Compile survey data to create a target audience and customer personas for the business
4. Begin marketing the business using the data provided through surveys
5. Create in store promotions and events to drive customers in the store

 

Once the steps listed have been accomplished and are in full force the plan would be to utilize an email database created during the survey process to offer promotions, update customers on new merchandise, etc.  The business is on its way down the tube and the owners have expressed the need to get anything going that will drive customers in the store.  The marketing as stated earlier will be on a very low budget and is the only way this business will have hope in opening another store front.  Once the business begins to bring in more money additional efforts such as Google Ad-words, Twitter, YouTube, a blog, and radio advertisements can begin.

 

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