kimgk's blog

I was so nervous about jumping back into school and taking this course to complete my degree…so much so that it took me way too long to actually have the courage to do it. But now that it’s almost done, I am so glad and feel so stupid that it took me this long to do it! I have thoroughly enjoyed this class, the project and learning more about each of my classmates. We have so many incredibly talented people in our class and that speaks volumes about the caliper of the VCT program at BGSU. I am so honored to have been able to be a part of this group – you raised my work up to a higher level. Some of your insights on the discussions and blogs gave me a renewed perspective on doing my job. Other comments just made me laugh and reminded me how young you are and how much you still have to learn. But don’t worry – you’ll get there and you’ll do just fine. If you learned one thing from this class…it’s that you know you can do your best, but you cannot control every aspect of every project, so surround yourself with talented, hard-working people whom you can trust to do their jobs and who have the same work ethic and goals as you do.

I wish all of you the best – stay positive, remember that how you treat your co-workers and your clients is a direct reflection on you and your work ethic, and most importantly that all battles are not worth fighting, so pick them wisely and you’ll be much happier (both professionally and personally). And as a parent of a teenager…thank your parents for their support of your education especially since VCT is such an expensive and exhausting major- parents can never hear Thank You enough!

Since the class presentation and reflection assignment are both due this week, I will not be working on my client project this week. I had hoped to wrap it all up this week, but that will have to wait until next week. The final weeks of class have been the roughest on me – I am technology challenged and I’m not afraid to admit that, so the online portfolio and the presentation have been the items that caused me the most anxiety. I can handle even the most difficult clients and designing the most ridiculous pieces, but dealing with the online portfolio was brutal – especially because I was dealing with internet connection and computer hard drive issues! I got it done but it is not what I had envisioned nor is it what I think it could become after I learn more about how to work the application.

The class presentation will probably be the assignment for the semester that challenges me the most and most likely will push me over the edge! So be kind when reviewing it…

marketing packet items

The various pieces of my project are all coming together…they are falling into place rather quickly. It seemed like it took forever to get to this point and now the plans are coming to life. I am so excited to see how all of the pieces work so well together! I am including a sample of some of the preliminary pieces (photos have not been inserted yet) that will be used to promote the party center at bridal fairs and when people request information about the center. The client is very happy, so much so, that they want me to continue working with them after this class is over.

At first returning to school seemed like such an overwhelming thing…but I’ve enjoyed this class so much that I am kicking myself for not finishing my degree sooner! It has helped me determine that I would like to continue on to a masters degree, but I am not sure in what area yet. Everyone I know is going for their MBAs, but I don’t think that’s the right degree for me – I’d like to concentrate on something more creative. I’ll get it figured out but atleast I this class has helped me see that I can handle going back to school, working full time and juggling family obligations…without losing my mind or becoming a raging lunatic! (well, ask my husband about that last one and he may have something different to say! ha ha)

Better get back to work on that online portfolio…this is proving to be a challenge to me to get set up and look the way I want it to.

Here are the final logos the client chose for the party center…I was going for something more simple, but they liked the frilliness…at least it’s done!

This week and the next week will hopefully be my weeks to pull all of the moving parts of this project together. The final logo is almost done – not 100% happy with how the artwork is looking when logo used small so trying to determine how to fix this while still retaining aspects the client wants. My first email blast went out to list of attendees of a recent bridal show and I think the client received 3 inquiries from it already. The updated brag book is coming along – I’ll post before and after pictures here so you guys can see the vast improvement. (I’m not bragging or anything…LOL) The client missed their first advertsing deadline, so it’s giving me a little while longer to tweek ad. My next big project for them is to create templates for various flyers they do – the template will give them a consistent look and feel in all the pieces they give potential brides about the party center and it’s services. The thing I am most worried about on this project is the one thing out of my control, but has the biggest impact on success of the party center – the website is being overhauled by the owner’s son-in-law. I’ve given guidance for art and photos, and I’ve written copy…but something tells me that the final product is not going to look anything like what we discussed. I know he means well, but he’s not a web guy by trade – he just dabbles in it for fun and has absolutely no concept of design at all…stay tuned for how this turns out!

The client and owner emailed me today – they finally agreed on a logo design!!! Yeah! The only bad thing is they chose the one that I liked the least – the one that will be the most difficult to reproduce especially when used small. I warned them about this but they love it and want to go forward with it. I should never have shown this one, but it’s too late now. Lesson learned for future.

So now I can begin finalizing some of the items for my project other than copy writing. Once I’ve downloaded the vector art for part of the logo from istockphoto.com,  and put the final version together, I’ll post it for your review.

Just when I thought we were going to be starting to head back down the mountain, I find that the mountain somehow got taller! I met with both my client and the owner of the party center last weekend. The owner had a few different ideas than the general manager who I’ve been working with up to this point…her ideas have meant going back to the drawing board on some things…like the logo design. The owner did like the summary report I prepared as a result of the research I conducted and agrees with my suggestions for directions on where to concentrate their marketing efforts. I think she was also impressed with the thoroughness of the marketing plan I presented.

So now while I am waiting for feedback on what seems like the billionth logo design options, I have finalized copy for email blasts, basic ads and website directory listings. I am pouring through images to find new ones for their website and for use on a pull up banner we are having produced for use at events. I have also met with a person we hired to update the client’s website to provide art direction and suggestions for how to set up the contact us form. I am working with general manager on content for a press release which will go out upon completion of the website re-design.

Things are getting done…I just wish the logo was one of them!

I met with my client again over the weekend to discuss how we should prioritize the many items they would like me to complete. We finally narrowed down the top 4 things that we need to do that will have the most immediate impact to generating new business. Of course during this discussion the client added additional items to my already long list of add ons! I guess I know what I’ll be doing to earn extra income after this class is over!! Now I need to buckle down and get all the kinks ironed out of our marketing plan because this is the basis of my project – it will be the guiding force for the client even after the class is over to continue moving forward with advertising and promotions. I also need to finalize a surprise for my client…I updated the logo for both the golf course and the party center to give them a cohesive and polished look…I hope they like it!

After meeting with my client today I am wondering if I have bitten off more than I can chew with this project. The general manager is very excited about the marketing plan and is pushing the owners for approval on more items than I originally thought she would. This is a great thing because it means she sees a benefit to the items I’ve identified as ways to increase their reach into the local bridal market. But it’s also a bad thing because I am not sure I’ll be able to produce all of these items within the time constraints of the class. I will have to chose the items with the best opportunity to impact business and concentrate on getting those done during this semester and then continue working with the client after the class has ended to complete the desired items.

This weekend I attended a bridal show that my client was participating in. There were 3 direct competitors at this show so I signed up for the show as a bride and visited their booths loaded with questions and to gather copies of their marketing collateral. I also had someone walking around the show taking photos on their ipod of the competitor’s booths so I could share them with my client. I must admit that my client’s booth was the least impressive of all party centers, mainly because everyone else used pull up banners or pop-up booths behind their tables to draw attention to who they were and what they did. This is an aspect of my marketing plan and now I can show the client exactly why we need to act on this immediately. The marketing pieces I gathered and the questions I got answered are going to be extremely helpful in identifying what is the key thing that will distinguish St. Denis from the other party centers. Overall, this was a very beneficial way to spend my Saturday…plus I won 3 spray on tan sessions from one of the vendors!

I have jumped in with both feet into researching the market my client is in as well as the advertising opportunities for them. My client wishes to focus on increasing bridal bookings for their party center, therefore I am looking into all the ways brides research places to hold receptions. I found that on-line wedding directories are similar to old fashioned yellow pages when it comes to pricing – there is the basic listing and then there are TONS of add ons, each of which cost more. Of course if you sign up for some of their bundle options, they’ll throw special offerings in for free. If I can figure out what my client will actually get and what they’ll actually pay for – it will be a miracle!

As far as researching the market – there are only 6 competitor facilities within a 50 mile radius. The lack of competition should allow me to distinguish what makes my client’s facility stand out from the others. This will then become one of the features in our marketing. So far the distinguishing factor is the personalized service my client provides in their scenic setting. While a lot of places say they will cater to you with personalized service, it appears that St. Denis puts their money where their mouth is when it comes to bending over backwards for their brides. With this, I will leverage customer testimonials in our marketing to help us get this message out.

I did find 2 unfavorable comments on a bridal website about my client. I am not sure how to address this – perhaps developing a facebook page where we can post testimonials and invite others to comment, but will that open up an even larger can of worms? If anyone has any suggestions on this – I would appreciate feedback.

Thanks – kim

My client got back to me with some of the information needed to continue to develop project. We are meeting Thursday evening to go over some additional information including what their thoughts are on budget. This will definately be helpful to know as I review advertising opportunities available to help promote their business.

My client was not able to meet with me over the weekend to go over questions about past marketing efforts, # of events held in 2011, types of events held and if they are open to ideas that I suggested in our first meeting. I followed up today via email with all of my questions in hopes that the general manager can address them as her schedule allows this week. I have begun researching their competition in order to identify what will make my client’s party center stand out above the rest.

I have chosen to work with St. Denise Party Center for my class project. I feel this client will be the best one for me to work with and actually be able to complete a tangible product within our semester. During my interview with Margen Designs, I didn’t get the feeling that the principals would be able to make decisions quickly and without numerous revisions which would make it difficult to complete assignment by end of the semester.

I have two clients as possibilities – one is a local party center which is in need of marketing material to help promote their capabilities. The other is a health care furniture sales and cleaning business which is trying to grow their business. Both have clearly defined communication needs but which one would be the most beneficial to work with? Will have to mull over interviews tomorrow and decide which client to go with.

I hope I did this correctly…

Welcome to blogs.bgsu.edu by COBL. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!