Marketing Approach

Ideas:

• how the flip flops owner created his network on facebook
• Sponsors:
  • Starbucks, flipflops, mh frank, planet smoothie

• Focus group
• Catbus/ dining halls
• Ideas:
  • Get athletes involved, Oliver Purnell, Dabo, President Barker

Other Approaches:

• Focus on faculty

General Outline:

1. Title Page
2. Table of Contents
3. Executive Summary
4. Problems  -> Thesis
5. Solutions- have a list
6. Execution
7. Conclusion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6cOp6EDFlI

I watched this video at a conference I attended today and it’s an absolutely incredible story.  Check it out!

Group Member Contact Information, Question, and Timeline

Stephanie Sanders 704-807-4955 sjsande@clemson.edu

Scott Holt 704-942-7756 sholt@clemson.edu

Alex Mackenzie 404-718-9161 amacken@clemson.edu

 Alex Stefanic 804-306-0872 alexstefanic740@gmail.com

Brendan Lopes 610-360-5461 blopes@clemson.edu

Josh Lopes 610-360-1257 jlopes@clemson.edu   Leader

Question: How do we create a network bash that actually appeals to students?

 Timeline:

 Next Monday- Brainstorming

Wednesday- organizing ideas, distributing tasks

Friday- drafting proposal

1) Explain the experience of taking a test together, what did you gain by using this method?

It was a very neat and unusual experience to take a class with all of my peers. I have taken open book or open note quizzes/tests before, but never a “use your peers and any other resources” type of test. I would say that I gained an interesting perspective from using this method. While the class may not have necessarily had to know the information as well as it would have for a standard test, we all practiced perhaps one of the most beneficial skills of all- leveraging the ability of others.

2) If you chose not to use the answers that the group suggested, why…what was your reasoning?

I did choose to use the answers that the group suggested because I thought they were the right answers anyway. For the most part, the group simply confirmed my intuition. At the same time, however, it was clear that my classmates all knew their classroom-assigned chapter the best, and I especially trusted the people who were “experts” per se on the specific chapter from which each particular question was drawn.

3) Do you feel that your academic integrity was compromised?

No. I do not feel like my academic integrity was compromised, whatsoever. I feel that the formatting of the test had a very specific purpose, and was not so much geared towards each individual actually knowing the information as it was meant for the team to effectively utilize all its members. It was a “people utilizing other people” type of exercise.

4) Do you think that someone was capitalizing on your academic knowledge…maybe the student that did not study?

 Perhaps, but in reality that is the way the world works. I am going to be faced with many team efforts throughout my life, and due to my work ethic I am confident that I will often times find myself as one of the more knowledgeable members of the group. Even if I am a less in-the-know member, however, the knowledge itself is meaningless without an effective team dynamic. When working as a team, the information is nothing without continuity and a mutual understanding between team members. In effective team efforts, there is synergy between group members. When one plus one equals three, innovation is born. You might say a “tribe” has begun.

5) What is a situation that using a collaborative method of communication (taking a test) would not be beneficial?

 There are certain tasks that do not demand the efforts of a collective group. Often times, within a project, there are multiple tasks of this sort, and delegation amongst group members is more effective than the whole group working on every portion of the project. Being my fraternity’s president, I will provide examples from an average Sunday (the day that we have our executive meeting and then chapter).

Individual tasks:

• I send out texts/emails to our chapter members and executive committee notifying them of the time and place of chapter and briefing them of topics to be covered. • I individually contact each member of the executive committee to stay informed and help guide their efforts. • Each member (VP Programming, VP Finance, VP Recruitment, VP Communications, VP Member Development, Chaplian, Risk Chair, Philanthropy Chair, and Secretary) prepares his own agenda/discussion topics for exec and chapter.

Group Tasks

• The exective committee meets and each member informs the entire committee of their plans for the coming weeks. • The executive committee collaborates to refine these efforts in a manner to be best presented to the chapter. • The executive committee (particularly the president and chaplain) leads the chapter meeting. • Chapter members discuss important topics and provide feedback/ideas.

Individual Tasks

• The secretary sends out the minutes from chapter. • Each executive member plans his week/schedule according to the plans presented. • Chapter members plan accordingly.

As can be seen from this typical Sunday within my chapter, a balance of individual and group efforts are required for any organization to be effectively run or for any project to be successfully completed. Obviously, certain types of prep-work don’t require the efforts of the executive committee of 10 members and definitely not the efforts of all 82 chapter members. Certain tasks are more effectively completed amidst a group of 10 than 82, while others require the attention of all members to reach the most effective conclusion. If efforts that can be delegated to individuals or a small group are instead given to the entire group, what often results is chaos, groupthink, and nobody stepping up with the mindset that someone else will get the job done.

6) What made you naturally choose to work in a group when I just laid down the tests and said good luck?

A group is more effective for a project/test of this sort than any one individual’s efforts. Especially due to the fact that specific groups within the class focused their efforts on particular chapters, we all immediately knew that a group effort was the way to go. There were specialists on each chapter, and when certain questions arose, each of us naturally knew when to step in and lead the group. Likewise, we all seemed to naturally know when to follow.

7) Were there any rules, or did the classroom create the rules?

Sometimes, I feel that a no rules environment naturally lends itself to a set of rules. Again, referring back to the fact that certain people studied certain chapters- there was an almost unwritten understanding (set of rules) that you allowed others to lead when questions from their chapters arose.

Chapter One

1) According to the National Commission on Writing, employees “almost always” use which of the following forms of writing?

         *different forms of writing including e-mail messages, PowerPoint, memos, letters, and reports

2) The Dartnell Institute of Business Research found that the cost of producing and mailing one letter averages almost:

         *$19.92

3) Select the false statement about writing:

• Good writing tells your audience that you can think logically and communicate your thoughts clearly.
• Poor writing reveals that you can neither think clearly nor communicate your thoughts effectively.
• Writing is an extension of your interpersonal communication skills at work.
• Your writing ability will never affect your job performance.

4) Whether you are looking for a job or are already employed, how will you need to communicate to diverse audiences?

        *You must adapt to many different channels of communication. 

5) What are the three basic communication styles?

       *passive, aggressive, assertive

6) What are the characteristics of an aggressive communication style?

       * close minded, poor listeners, domineering, bullying, puts down others, bossy, points with jabbing fingers, frown, must win arguments, threatens, are angry and hostile, this leads to wasting time and energy, micromanaging, provokes others. 

7) According to the 2006 survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, what are the skills employers identify as part of their top ten employee qualities?

        * communication skills, honesty/integrity, teamwork skills, strong work ethic, analytical skills, flexibility/adaptability, interpersonal skills, motivation/initiative, computer skills, and detail oriented. 

 Chapter 3

1. Avoid Commands, Ask Questions, Use Positive Words or Phrases, Involve Your Audience with “You Usage,” Focus on Audience Benefit, Personalize Your Text with Names

2.

• Specialist Audience: work in a field in which they display expertise. They are experts in their field, understand the terminology of their field, require minimal detail regarding standard procedures, read to discover new knowledge, need little background information regarding a project’s history or objectives.
• Semi-specialist Audience: includes coworkers in other departments. Might include bosses, subordinates, or colleagues. Might have been actively involved at one time, but moved towards management and away from hands-on. Someone might be a semi-specialist based on their level of education or how long they have worked in a certain business, company, or corporation.
• Lay Audience: customers and clients who neither work for your company nor have any knowledge about your field of expertise are the lay audience. Communicating to a lay audience is difficult because they don’t know subject matter.
• Multiple Audience: Information is not always communicated to just one type of audience. Your report could be sent to several audiences.
• Multicultural Audience: creates challenges. Some countries require documentation be written in the local language. Each language version must be identical in content, readability, tone, style, and emphasis.

3. Assigning characteristics in your writing that pertain to a certain demographic. If your writing implies that men only do one kind of job and women do another kind, you are stereotyping.

4. Use gender neutral terms.

5. Avoid office documents that are impersonal and negative. Focus on memos that have audience benefits. Avoid biased comments.

Chapter 6

1) Identify what will help you become a clearer writer.

• Perfecting checklist (see page 157)
  • Answer who, what, when, where, why, how?
  • Delete dead words and “be” verbs
  • Use active voice
  • Limit sentence length and prepositional phrases
  • Reformat text for easy access (highlight, underline, bold)
  • proofread

  2) Define and identify “passive voice”.

• In passive voice sentences, the subject is acted upon. 
• Sometimes, “be” verbs create passive voice sentences.
• Passive voice causes 2 problems:
  • Unclear constructions- replace pronouns with precise nouns
  • Often wordy- require helping verbs

 3) Describe the Gunning Fog index.

• A popular tool for determining readability based on length of sentence and length of word usage

 4) Define multisyllabic.

• A word having three or more syllables
• More difficult to understand
• Using more concise words makes communication clearer

 5) What will lower the fog index for a document?

• To lower your index score, use shorter sentences and less multisyllabic words

 6) Why should you not rely solely on computer spell checks to catch spelling mistakes?

• Miss proper names, homonyms (ex: to, two, too), incorrectly used words(affect vs. effect)
•  do not understand context

 

Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

1) Identify how Blogs are a unique type of communication channel.

• Encourages random access, casual tone more informal
• ability to reach an influential audience segment
• Quick and Current
• Personalization
• Encourages reader input

2) Identify the characteristics of Online readers.

• topic specific, information quickly, access documents differently

3) Understand and identify the characteristics of  e-mail.

• Time- emails are quick they can be delivered within seconds
• Convenience- you can send an email from many types of wireless communicates and you can access your email at anytime
• Internal/ External- email allows you to communicate internally to coworkers or externally to  outside vendors and clients
• Cost- email are cost effective beasuce they are paperless so you can send many files without shipping fees
• Documentation email provides a company with an extencie record of messages for fututrew reference

4)  Identify the characteristics of E-mail messages written in the workplace.

• Email’s lack of privacy and corporate ownership
• · Avoid casual, unprofessional tone
• · Recognize your audience so you must factor in their level of knowledge
• · Identify yourself by name, affiliation, or title
• · Provide an effective subject title so your reader won’t delete that email
• · Keep your email message brief
• · Organize your email
• · Use highlighting techniques sparingly
• · Proofread your email message
• · Make hard copies for future reference
• · Be careful when sending attachments
• · Practice Netiquette

5) Identify the benefits & characteristics of instant messaging.

• Benefits
• increased speed of communication
• improved efficiency for geographically dispersed workgroups
• Collaboration by mult users in different locations
• Real time communication with multiple people at various location
• More personal link than email
• less intrusive  than a phone call
• Allows for multitasking

6) Identify the forms of Blogging.

• Vlogs- posting of video blogs
• MP3blogs
• Podcasting-  combination of words “Ipod” and “broadcasting”
• Microblogging- brief text, usually less than 200 characters
• Twitter- free micro-blogging service
• Fickr- Site for sharing photos

Chapter 10 (Questions 1-9)

1)   Why is the audience for memos usually specialist or semi-specialist? Because they are familiar with the work/workplace and the topics that are being discussed.

2)   Identify effective subject lines. They must have a topic and a focus

3)   What should you do in the memo’s introduction? Get to the point. Write a sentence telling the reader what the topic is and why are you writing.

4)   Why is a clear conclusion important in a memo? Because it could motivate your readers or direct them as to what to do next (regarding the topic discussed in the memo)

5)   What is the best solution to make sure that every reader will understand the acronyms you use in your memo? Use parenthetical definitions. e.g. Cash In Advance (CIA)

6)   What is the BEST example of an informal, friendly tone appropriate for memos? Not use a dictatorial tone, treat people with respect

7)   When is chronological organization appropriate in a memo? No Answer found

8)   Why is clustering a useful planning activity for writing memos? To organize your points in order of importance.

9)   Which question should you consider when clarifying your audience for memos? Whether it is for a single individual or an entire department.

Chapter 10 (9- 16)

9) Which question should you consider when clarifying your audience for memos?

Is the message for intrabusiness or extrobusiness?  Is the person you are writing to a specialist/boss or a co-worker?

10)  What are the dangers of writing sloppy or negative letters?

In writing sloppy and/or negative letters  you can appear unqualified, and you appear unprofessional.  Both of these things could hurt your future business as well.

11) What information belongs in the writer’s address section of a letter?

Your personal/companies address

12) Where is the proper location for the date of the letter?

In the address section under the writer’s address but over the reader’s address.

13) What is the BEST option in a letter if you do not know the receiver’s name?

To begin the address with a job title or the name of the department.

14) What is the most important information to include in the conclusion of your letter of inquiry?

Explain when you need the response with a specific date for action and why you need it at that time.

15) What are the goals of a cover letter?

The goals of a cover letter is to tell the reader up front what they are receiving and focuses the reader’s attention on key points within the enclosures.

16) When rewriting any letter, what ways do you make sure that you have made it reader-friendly?

Does the letter have the essential components, a good introduction, discussion, page layout, organization, and conclusion?  Is the letter clear and concise?  Does it appropriately access the audience?  Is the text grammatically correct?

Blog’s With Answers
http://blog.bobbyrettew.com/

http://briannaeason.wordpress.com – Chapter One
http://carolinespears.wordpress.com – Chapter Three
http://joshlopes.wordpress.com – Chapter Six
http://kellymoses.wordpress.com – Chapter Nine
http://jonisoto.wordpress.com – Chapter Ten (ques 1-8)
http://darrinsorenson.wordpress.com – Chapter Ten (ques 9-16)

He describes tribes, how do I define a tribe:

Being part of a tribe is about believing whole-heartedly in a cause and refusing to accept the status quo, “color within the lines,” or fall victim to the temptations of consistency through “sheepwalking”. Tribe members have passion and a sense of urgency. Leaders of the tribe love what they do, and constantly strive for positive change in the outside world. Tribe members are connected in some way, whether by simply a common belief, a common meeting place, or one of many networks on the internet. The internet has enabled more tribes to form than ever before, making potential tribe members aware of both large-scale endeavors and “micromovements” as well. A tribe is about desire, not necessity. It’s about bring your followers up, not tearing down your opponents. It’s about pushing aside the fear of wrong in the pursuit of right. It’s about a leader having a vision for the future, and communicating what it takes for the tribe to get there.

If he was writing about this class, what would he say about this tribe:

I think Godin would say that the time where the best opportunities are available is now. He discusses the danger of words like “not yet” and “wait and see” in his book, and I believe he would push for our tribe to embrace some change NOW. Innovation is brewing within the bright minds in our class. The longer we wait to pursue our ideas, the less worthwhile our efforts will be.

I also believe that Godin would challenge each of us to practice our leadership skills. As he says in “Tribes,” “The tactics of leadership are easy. The art is the difficult part.” While many of my peers and I are leaders in multiple organizations, there is always room for further development. I would also predict that many of us stay confided to the bounds of the norm even within our leadership positions, and have so much more potential to positively impact the future if we embrace change.

Discuss a company he talks about when he’s connecting with his customers and how did it connect with the tribe:

While there were many companies/movements discussed in the book “Tribes” that found innovative ways to connect with customers, one of my favorite was the movement started by Jerry Sternin. Sternin has helped feed thousands of starving children by going against the grain and looking for “positive deviants” in poor societies. He started his work in Vietnam, searching for families whose children weren’t starving, and sought to bring them into the spotlight for other less fortunate families to see. He made it simple for these successful families to provide insight to others, and essentially started a tribe designed to manufacture better-fed children. By refusing to accept the traditional model for social change, Sternin and his wife Monique have helped thousands of hungry children and families in developing countries around the world. Jerry Sternin simply magnified the work of existing leaders in society, and because of this, he expedited positive change.

1) Identify what will help you become a clearer writer.

• Perfecting checklist (see page 157)
  • Answer who, what, when, where, why, how?
  • Delete dead words and “be” verbs
  • Use active voice
  • Limit sentence length and prepositional phrases
  • Reformat text for easy access (highlight, underline, bold)
  • proofread

  2) Define and identify “passive voice”.

• In passive voice sentences, the subject is acted upon. 
• Sometimes, “be” verbs create passive voice sentences.
• Passive voice causes 2 problems:
  • Unclear constructions- replace pronouns with precise nouns
  • Often wordy- require helping verbs

 3) Describe the Gunning Fog index.

• A popular tool for determining readability based on length of sentence and length of word usage

 4) Define multisyllabic.

• A word having three or more syllables
• More difficult to understand
• Using more concise words makes communication clearer

 5) What will lower the fog index for a document?

• To lower your index score, use shorter sentences and less multisyllabic words

 6) Why should you not rely solely on computer spell checks to catch spelling mistakes?

• Miss proper names, homonyms (ex: to, two, too), incorrectly used words (affect vs. effect)
•  do not understand context

 

• Formality of Email
  • Private vs. personal
  • Company owns all email
  • No abbreviations
• When to use each type of communication
  • Email vs. text
  • Celerity of response
  • Email-between company
  • Text- within company
• Format your email so you can send to a broader audience
  • Use layman’s terms
  • Make your bosses job easier
    • Forwarding
  • Basics first- less is more- keep length appropriate
• Realize the importance of your first impression
  • Won’t take future communication seriously
  • Use effective subject lines
  • Pick usernames that can stick with you
• Increase and Impress your Blog’s audience
  • Maintain professionalism even within personal blog
  • Use key words to improve search ranking
  • Put additional links

 

In order to effective in the business world, you must learn the importance of keeping emails formal, know when to use each different type of communication, format your emails so that they apply to a broader audience, realize the importance of the first impression, and understand how to increase and impress your blog’s audience.

I would use the money to invest in residential property (to flip or assign) and ultimately make a profit.

The money would be used to cover the down payment, renovation costs, and advertising to put the house back on the market.

          Target Breakdown:  $20,000 down; $4,000 renovations; $1,000 advertising

Plan:  I would build a relationship with a realtor in the area.  With my realtor, I would search for distressed properties in the area, which could include pre-forclosures, foreclosures, probates, divorce properties, or bank owned REO’s. 

With my realtor, we would make offers- lots of offers ont these distressed properties at 30-50% below FMV.  Our target would be 30 offers, but if necessary we would continue to make offers until at least one is accepted and we have found a great deal!

Once an offer was accepted, I would immediately put the house back on the market at 10% below FMV and start advertising.  My target market would include (but not be limited to) newlyweds, couples who just recently had a baby, recently retired couples, or investors.  I would also immediately begin any necessary renovations that would add significant value to the home.

I would recruit buyers to this great deal of a home until a profit is in my hands.  If necessary, I would drop the list price to 15% or 20% below market.

With the economy slumping and the housing market at a historical low, great deals are abundant in the realm of real estate, and there is great potential for savvy investors to see big gains on their investments.  I would use my $25,000 to capitalize on one of these great deals and try to turn a quick profit.