Snapchat Sued for eExposing Children to Smutty Articles

Snapchat sued for exposing children to smutty articles

A law firm in Los Angeles has sued Snapchat for exposing children to “harmful, offensive, prurient, and sexually offensive content.”  Snapchat has failed to notify users that parental control systems are offered on the app to be able to limit the amount of harmful content minors have access too.  The Terms of Service does not include any notice about the possible inappropriate content on Snapchat Discover. Buzzfeed, People, Cosmopolitan, MTV, and other media sources provide articles for the app.  Most of the articles are informative, educational or meant for pure entertainment, but some of the material is not meant for children’s eyes.           

“Geragos hopes to convince a court to allow the case to become a class action suit. He brought it in the name of a minor child identified only as John Doe. When the suit refers to minors, it means people between the ages of 13 and 18.  Under Snapchat’s own Terms of Service, no one under the age of 13 is allowed to create an account on or use the service.”

The Discover partners are able to choose what they write about, and Snapchat doesn’t want to change that agreement. Given that policy it is almost impossible to filter out the material deemed inappropriate to minors.  Snapchat does apologize for everyone offended but they cannot control what goes on the app and what does not.

What do you think these allegations will do to Snapchat’s image? Also, do you think this will hurt Snapchats success?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2016/07/07/snapchat-sued-exposing-children-smutty-articles/86821924/

Top 10 Sales Tips

Sales is one of the most challenging fields to get into and any tips that can be utilized will be advantageous. Tom Szaky has written his top ten sales tips that can be used in any sales scenario. One of the biggest tips that can derail any salesperson is their believe in their own product. Believe it or not, one of the biggest things that can detract a career in sales is a sales person who does not believe in what they are selling. You cannot fake energy and a lack of enthusiasm will be painfully obvious during a pitch. Along with that, Tom also makes it obvious that having high energy is key to making it through the close.

A big tip that is echoed several different times is being clear and concise. Sales people get poor reputations for being fast talkers and not answering questions clearly. Tom says do not do any of those things. He says to be sure never to be confusing and to answer all the prospect’s questions in the shortest possible manner.

Tom Szaky has many sales tips and all ten of these important tips can be found at the posted link below

http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/25/my-top-10-sales-tips/?_r=0

Event Marking: What is it?

When you think of event marketing what do you think? Event marketing is an activity with a theme, occasion, display or exhibit. They are either there to promote a product, cause or organization.  These events help involve more people than a sale or a day-to day business advertising. Who doesn’t like a party? These events are pretty much like a party. What catch the customer’s attention are different forms of advertising and social media tools. This helps make the event successful, so all the planning, organizing and executing will pay off.  These parties have two goals; to keep your current customers engaged and attract new comers.

To keep your audience as well as get new people there are a few things to help the customers stay. When planning the event pick the theme around your audience.  It’s usually chosen around the type of customer, key products, USP (Unique selling proposition), and WIIFT (what’s in it for them?). Use your sponsors, without them you would have to provide samples, prizes, displays, speakers, etc.  A big one is promotion and publicity like I said earlier; if you don’t get the attention across your event wont get the customers. Examples that could help get the word out there are radio ads, personal contact, posters, bag inserts, social media. After getting the word out  follow up with your customers and new comers. Thank them for attending, make a survey to see how the event went, and if pictures were taken give them the link to them.

Events are stressful especially your first, but once the first one is over you will have a better understanding of how to plan the next. Events add to the visibility of your company and help with the competitive aspect. With each event you will increase your knowledge in many forms such as promotion, publicity, social media and lead development. With a solid event and a program for your community it will keep your customer base consistent.

Retail Blog: Bring Back Black Friday

Bring Back Black Friday

              This year, Thanksgiving weekend will be looking a little different. Due to backlash the past few years, several companies have decided to keep Black Friday exclusively to Friday; this means that participating stores will open at 6:00am on Friday morning as opposed to 6:00pm Thanksgiving night. The operator of 89 regional malls and shopping centers, CBL and Associates, will be closing 73 of its locations on Thanksgiving Day. This includes the Mall of America, which has been open on Thanksgiving for the past four years, and retailers like Costco, Home Depot, and REI. Many of these retailers claim that their motive for closing their stores is due to their desire to reclaim Thanksgiving Day as a day for giving thanks with loved ones. This may not be the only motivation for several of these retailers.

              The real motivation behind the store closures has to do with money. The past few years, Black Friday sales have been decreasing. The day is also on the brink of losing its title as the biggest shopping day of the year, expected to not even rank in the top 10. By closing on Thanksgiving, companies are hoping to bring back the true Black Friday experience and bring popularity back to the day. This may also eliminate negative press that has been emerging about being open on the Thanksgiving Holiday

              Customers are viewing Costco, Home Depot, and REI’s actions as a step in the right direction. Do you believe other retailers should follow in their footsteps?

My Experience in Market Research

My Experience in Market Research

              Because I work in the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), I thought I would give my insight to my experiences in market research. The Wisconsin Innovation Service Center (WISC) is a business outreach center, which is an arm of SBDC. At WISC, we have clients from all over the country looking for different market research reports based on what their goal is for the research. These goals could be to launch a new product, discover opportunities for advancement, or diversify themselves in their industry. My job as a student researcher is to gather the qualitative and quantitative data needed to create these, and then interpret them in a written report. I have had clients in many different industries with many different goals they want to achieve from the research. The first task needed to complete before writing any report is to create a call list of potential prospects to call to get information for the report. At WISC, we create surveys for these prospects based on questions approved by the client. After this data is gathered, the other half to these reports are looking for trends in the specific market as well as primary data on statistics. This could be revenue growth, biggest competitors, as well as market share information. Trends could be in the form of a recent article related to the topic or something that a survey respondent indicated that we look more into. Primary data combined with survey data from the prospective businesses complete a full market research report.

              There are many things I like about my job in market research. The first thing I like the most is the fact that every client wants something different and no report is ever the same. It gives me the opportunity to always be researching and getting to know different markets within the United States. Another thing I like is being able to help businesses grow and find potential to succeed. Although our clients range from small businesses to larger ones, I find it rewarding to give them the opportunity to find something for them that they may not know about and find their own competitive advantage. In addition, throughout the research process, researchers can find things that could change the direction of the report. Lastly, before I got this position, I did not know how much I would be interested in marketing research and doing analysis. I am a marketing major, with more of an interest in sales and interacting with people rather than creating reports using analytical skills. However, this job helped me expand my skills and give me more insight into the field of marketing. It helped me understand what it takes to solve problems with a company through research. Also, using analytical skills in marketing is very helpful. In addition, I have a much larger scope now in how positioning yourself in the marketplace is just as important as having quality products with fair prices. Just because a business thinks they know what they are doing because of their own knowledge in the field, doesn’t mean there is something that they have not looked into. I have realized research plays a crucial role in your company’s success, because there is always an opportunity to optimize your business objectives.

Titletown District: The Ultimate Fan Experience

Titletown District: The Ultimate Fan Experience

Can you imagine going to an NFL game, but instead of just going to your local team on game day, you made a weekend out of it? In Green Bay, Wisconsin, the ultimate fan experience will be made into a reality. Recently, Green Bay released plans of a venue that will include multiple football fields, outdoor workout structures, a sledding hill and much more. These over-the-top proposals will allow Packer fans to spend more time in the city. The complex will be on be on 100+ acres and be beside Lambeau Field.

Yes, for every Packer fan, this may the best thing to happen since the creation of cheese.  In reality, this could bring in much more profit for the organization and for local businesses. Included in the plans for the Titletown District are a series of business buildings and even an intricate hotel. The masterminds behind the design are hoping that profits will boom, but marketing this venue will be key. It will be easy for many people to make the decision whether to drive to the Titletown District, but it needs to be marketed to those who would be willing to fly to see what this is all about. The initial release of the plans has created a positive vibe from fans thus far, and the Packers hope to keep the hype high on their ultimate fan experience.  

Do you think that this venue will bring in people from around the United States? Would you be willing to visit?

Since not everyone is a Packer fan, how would the Packer organization be able to successfully bring in people from all around the United States?

Resource:

http://www.packers.com/lambeau-field/titletown-district.html

Research: Quantitative vs. Qualitative

When researching, there are two types of research that can be done: quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative is the measuring of “how much” of something. Qualitative, on the other hand, is the measuring of the quality. In market research, it “uncovers the hows and the whys of consumer behavior.” The article, “Qualitative Research: Adapting with the Needs of Researchers?” from the market research magazine Quirks, discusses why we have qualitative research and how it has changed to benefit market research.

For this year’s Quirk’s Corporate Reacher Report, corporate researchers were asked about their pain points and challenges. Some of the pain points included the budget and assigning to many projects to the staff. The challenges, however, were high in the qualitative research area with “inability of insights to drive action” being 50% of the corporate researcher’s answers.

According to the article, corporate researchers believe that qualitative research is more effective at gaining insights that are useful.  Some of the methods that researchers view as effective include: online qualitative/focus groups, mobile-specific surveys, social media research, and text analytics.

Technology has changed the ways of qualitative research in scale, geography, cost, depth of insight, and speed.

Scale: In text analytics, customer service information and social media analytics give structure to the large scale of unstructured data.

Geography: Through mobile devices and online qualitative, it is easier to participate in qualitative research since these methods are available right at the tip of your fingers.

Cost: Online qualitative research has lowered the cost of travel and projects within the corporate research field.

Depth of Insight: Communities provide deeper insight than some traditional methods.


Speed: Speed is one of the top two corporate challenges. Social media and community improves speed-to-insight; however, online qualitative groups are reported to not be much faster.

Retail Marketing: Savvy Marketing in Stars Hollow

Savvy Marketing in Stars Hollow

              In celebration of the 16^th anniversary of the Gilmore Girls series and the upcoming release of the Netflix four-part extension, Gilmore Girls: A Day in the Life, Netflix took to some unique marketing techniques to immerse fans into the world of Lorelai and Rory Gilmore. On October 5^th, participating coffee shops around the country were transformed into the famous Luke’s Diner from the Gilmore Girls series; the place where the mother and daughter pair where often found chatting and drinking one of the 503 cups of coffee they consumed over the course of the 7 seasons.

Each of these newly transformed stores included décor from the show including Luke’s sign, the apron and backwards cap that he wore, and Luke’s coffee cups that included Gilmore Girls quotes on the back. Free coffee was given to anyone who entered the store, whether they were fans or just unsuspecting customers. With every cup handed out, Netflix hoped that the experience of being ‘inside’ the TV show would raise awareness of the new series extension and draw in new fans. The company stated that “giveaways are all but guarantees to boost sales”. Pairing this technique with a unique, hands-on customer experience, Luke’s Diner received much anticipated publicity, and may make other companies reconsider the way they market in the future.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/katherinegustafson/2016/10/05/free-coffee-at-lukes-in-honor-of-gilmore-girls-today-nice-one-netflix/#5edb19a24876

Event Marketing

With the respect from the event attendees, sponsorship, community involvement, and the title sponsor brands. This is where the onsite study for sponsored events, with constructing and competing models are examined. With the desire from the attendees it shows that those who are community-minded have a more positive opinion of sponsors. Results from this indicate that event marketing have a conjunction with the consumers who are enthusiastic, active, and knowledgeable about the events and what it serves as a valuable leverage which engages the consumer.

Event attendees are what help the sponsors come every year. Though the thing that keeps the people coming is the community involvement. Without them the motivation for the events wouldn’t be there. Those that are community- minded have the better opinion of who they want to help run their community.

Event marketing is the sole purpose that helps with the consumers who keep them happy, active, and smart. These events are what help keep the valuable leverage that helps us to stay motivated to attend these events. Marketing has so many aspects too it; a great way to get the people thinking about if they want the market is at events that involves you with many mindsets. 

LinkedIn Mistakes You Can't Afford to Make

Many people say that a great salesperson is talkative, good at communication and negotiate well. While this is true, the best in sales are those that are the best at prospecting. Prospecting can be challenging, however, those who can avoid these simple mistakes can prosper in sales. The biggest mistake people make is not scheduling a dedicated time for prospecting. The way author Mark Hunter describes it, most people take a shower every day, that means you should prospect every day. Furthermore, Hunter says one of the biggest pet peeve’s he has is sales people who are ‘one and done prospectors.’ The key to successful prospecting is in the follow up, sending a lot of messages does almost nothing if you don’t follow them up when you do not get a response. Next, it is important for a good salesperson to ask for referrals. Almost any sales person knows that calling on a warm lead is better than opening a phone book and going down the list. Few people can keep a pipeline full if they are afraid to ask for referrals. It’s important to remember it is not that scary to ask for referrals and to keep in mind that reminding people the importance of referrals can make it easier to get them. Finally, the most important thing to note is the ineffectiveness of social selling. Putting a lot of content on social media will not lead to the phone ringing. As Mark notes, it’s a cluttered and busy world out there and your post will not stand out compared to the other social sellers. These are just a few of the important prospecting tips, you can find the full list here: 

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/10-prospecting-mistakes-you-cant-afford-make-mark-hunter

A Companies Biggest Marketing Asset: Athletes

A Companies Biggest Marketing Asset: Athletes

When your son, daughter, or friend buys a product, it most likely is related to an athlete in a way. Athletes in the United States bring in millions of dollars in revenue for a multitude of companies. People want to be just as cool as the world’s greatest athletes.  When basketball players wear Kobe sneakers, they feel they can play as good as Kobe Bryant, while looking as good as him as well.

As companies sign major athletes to endorse products, consumers from the corners of the earth buy the endorsed items. For example, Arnold Palmer’s name has changed the way you drink iced tea. The drink ‘Arnold Palmer’ has been a hit and has brought in a lot of money for Lipton, not only for its taste, but because Arnold Palmer is a sports icon. Although Arnold Palmer has been known for his specialty drink, there are many more things he had endorsed in his lifetime. One of which was with an airline company. It not only allowed for the airline to excel, but created competition among other airlines. After that deal, he signed an endorsement with a hotel, to again create other hotels to compete with pricing.  This has been a reoccurring loop for many different companies today, and has allowed for marketing to become a major key in how well products are perceived. Athletes today, in my eyes, are a company’s biggest marketing asset.

If you see an athlete endorsing an item, does it make you want to buy it more?

Do you think that athletes dominate the marketing and endorsement world? Why or why not?

Reference:

http://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/17639848/arnold-palmer-was-father-modern-day-sports-marketing

The Digital Marketing Lesson of Pokémon GO

The Digital Marketing Lesson of Pokémon GO

Much of the population has heard of the app Pokémon GO. Many people are even playing Pokémon GO making it the biggest mobile game in U.S history.  The app uses the player’s smartphone location and camera functions, and excites and motivates players to go a location to catch the Pokémon.  The “pocket monsters” seem like they pop up in random places.  In reality, the developers of the game used many years of Google Maps to find the locations they wanted to plant the Pokémon.  Companies and marketers could not be more excited for this because they knew it would create foot traffic.  McDonalds became the game’s first huge sponsor by adding about 3,000 PokeStop locations in Japan.  This marketing application not only helped the app generate revenue by sponsorships, but it helped McDonalds by getting more people in the door.  Other companies such as Foursquare and Facebook saw the early success of this marketing campaign, and moved quickly to add advertisements, and create reward program to customer that use the Pokemon Go app.                

Digital experience is the mingling of the digital and physical worlds.  Successful marketers know how to use the data and information they are given to adapt to their customers habits and tendencies. They use it to constantly make the customers experience more enjoyable when interacting with their brand.  “But the best marketers understand the importance of “magic”—those intangible qualities that tug on consumers’ emotions and make a product more alluring.  The magic of Pokémon GO is especially ingenious”.  This app uses research, data, and algorithms to give the magical experience to the users. This app has also created many opportunities and ideas developers are working on in the future.  One good example is a grocery store app where people can type in a recipe.  With the list of ingredients the store can route the customer through the grocery store to easily find each ingredient ultimately improving the overall customer experience.    

For the industries and marketers who can master the balance of the virtual and real world, the result is a kind of digital magic that allows the companies not just personalize and perfect customers’ experiences, but to exercise the cycle of testing, learning and adapting that has helped so many technology companies find success.

 http://www.forbes.com/sites/baininsights/2016/09/06/the-digital-marketing-lesson-of-pokemon-go/#6360cdbe590e

LinkedIn Has A New App For Job Hunting College Students

LinkedIn Has A New App For Job Hunting College Students

            Millennials are the number one age group joining LinkedIn currently, so a new app called “LinkedIn Students” is being launched, targeting soon-to-be college graduates. The goal is to help take the pressure off of students and help them network and connect to find their first job out of college.  LinkedIn has over 400 million users and with this tool the student will have personalized job recommendations and posting based on their career choice right at their fingertips. The app uses the career paths of professionals that graduated from the same school and with the same major as the specific user.  There is also a list generated for professionals the students might use as contacts to get more information. 

“What students really need from us is help finding their first job out of school,” LinkedIn product manager Ada Yu said, noting that students often are aware of the need to network professionally, but don’t always know how to start. “It’s a looming thing they are thinking about, and we have rich data that we can help them through this process. We want students to check out others’ career paths because their paths might really inspire them.”

People go to college to find better jobs, but 44% of graduates end up unemployed. 40 million college kids are on LinkedIn but have not tried to use it to find jobs. Students must enter their college, major, and graduation date.  The it will show them a job they might like, with a job description, salary, skills needed, and openings for similar positions.  College career centers everywhere can share their job openings with LinkedIn making job hunting easier and less stressful.  The app also included videos and articles about work related content.  It was recently launched and will soon be available in other countries soon.

 http://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2016/04/18/linkedin-has-a-new-app-for-job-hunting-college-students/#5454a2f95cd4

Online Shopping to Sports Heroes

Online Shopping to Sports Heroes

Who would have ever thought Amazon would be the way you watch the French Open? Recently, Amazon has been looking to expand their horizon by streaming sports through its TV service. The company wants to stream a multitude of sports, from tennis to rugby. They believe this will gain their business a leg up on competitors, like Netflix.

By hiring the former Sports Illustrated executive, Amazon believes that their pursuit into the sports industry is well on its way to success. Amazon will begin to market their TV service much more to get viewers to switch over from classic providers. The only issue with moving over to live sports is that the media regulators do not want to stray away from the leading companies now. Amazon will have to get their television service as big as companies like Fox. With that being said, more people today are abandoning subscriptions from live television companies. It may not be easy, but if the option arises where people prefer the ambitious TV provider in Amazon, their business could be striking gold.

Do you believe that Amazon can topple the classic television providers, such as Fox?

Would you like a change in the industry, moving from classic television providers to Amazon? Why or why not?

Reference:

http://adage.com/article/digital/amazon-seeking-global-u-s-sports-video-rights/305796/ 

Interview: Kaia Fowler - Market Research Manager

For this week’s blog, we interviewed Kaia Fowler, she is the Market Research Manager at the Wisconsin Innovation Service Center (WISC) here at UW-Whitewater. Working as a student researcher myself, Kaia is my manager there.

1)           How did you get here?​

She received a degree in communications, which lead to more marketing roles. She also enjoyed conducting research while doing marketing projects. Before WISC, she worked in the Small Business Development (SBDC) in marketing communications but then moved into more of a research role in marketing instead.

2)           Tell us more about what you do at your job.

Kaia works with small businesses and inventors to help them define their market research goals, and designing projects meet their goals as well. She also guides researchers who carry out the projects like myself. Once research has been gathered and the project is done, she advises clients on how to implement results.

3)           Why do you think it is important to conduct research?

For this question, she indicated that business owners sometimes think they know what customers want. The only way to really know is to get information is from people in the field. At WISC, researchers conduct interviews with industry professionals. “Getting actual information from someone is valuable, it helps make better decisions when having insights. “

4)           How has your past experience with market research helped you with where you are at now?

Kaia said that once she started doing marketing research, she was more comfortable and relaxed reaching out to people and asking what she needs to communicate to the client. “A lot of people want to talk, it’s just motivating them to.”

5)           Describe a typical week for a research position.

She indicated that It mostly varies, depending on what research you are involved with during that time. Some of the time it is looking at other reports and doing statistical analysis, while it could also be on phone interviews. In addition, Kaia said that it is dealing a lot with deadlines.

6)           What are some challenges of working in market research?

The main challenge Kaia said was that there is so much information and sources that it can take a lot of time to find the right information. Every client at WISC has certain information that they are looking for to suit their needs. The information has to be relevant to those needs, she indicated.

7)           What is the best part about your job?

“I like acting as a bridge between the business individuals and inventors”, Kaia said. It is satisfying to delivering information that they may not get otherwise. She also said that sometimes the client doesn’t have the time, skills, or desire to do it.

8)           What is your advice for someone going into market research?

“Learn how to love statistics, it is common to hear statistics are hard or boring, but it can be exciting”, Kaia said. She also indicated it is very doable and powerful for practical use. I then asked if marketing would be a good path to take, and she said, “Marketing is a good path, because you are already having marketing knowledge which can help you decide what research to conduct. Data and statistics work with marketing all the time.” Kaia also said that creative people in marketing can have the ability to look at information and manipulate it in a way that they can tell a story in. I also asked if a person has to have statistical skills for this position, and she said it can definitely be learned.

Retail Marketing: Costco and Cars

Costco and Cars

              With the holidays quickly approaching, it’s becoming an important time of year for the auto industry. Because of a recent deal with General Motors, one unlikely retailer’s power in the industry will be on the rise. Costco has recently partnered with General Motors for their Holiday Sales Event, which runs from October 1^st through January 3^rd.

 The partners have come together again in hopes of exceeding last year’s 34% increase in sales during the promotion. Costco doesn’t make any money on the sale of the cars, but it does receive the benefit of gaining and retaining memberships through its car sale offerings. The major draw towards Costco over other auto retailers are the fixed prices; Unlike auto retailers, Costco sets fixed prices and doesn’t participate in bargaining or upselling. This tactic convinced over half of the consumers who participated in the event to switch to the General Motors brand. In a survey sent to participants of the promotion, over 96% of those who responded reported a high satisfaction with their experience. As the next holiday season approaches, both companies look forward to seeing an increasing success in automobiles in the wholesale market.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/283225

The New Rules of Event Marketing

The New Rules of Event Marketing

Some of the best experiential marketers, feeling that some companies were not keeping pace with the constantly changing world of marketing, came together to create an updated list of marketing guidelines called “The New Rules of Event Marketing”. Although they all had different recommendations, they were all able to agree on the end goal, to increase customer engagement long after events are held. The marketers were able to come up with eight sound suggestions for retaining customers starting with:

1.)    Create an event within an event- this is the closest form of interacting with the customer, being a one-on-one event that will give customers a lasting impression of the company. Such events could include Sponsoring a shuttle bus at an event and having games to play relating the company to the event.

2.)    Employ GPS and real time event tracking- the largest benefit to this strategy is the newness of the technique. Not a lot of companies have tried this, but the ones that have experienced great success from the stunt. This can often be played out similarly to geocaching, but having a strong base of social media is a must to impact a larger audience than those experiencing it firsthand.

3.)    Add another dimension- with social media as big as it is, it goes without saying that so is marketing with social media. Companies are finding success with transforming any event into something unique that they can put their name on. As an example, some companies have created images that can be projected onto their phone based off of their location.

4.)    Use ubiquitous social impacting as a conduit for exclusivity- What that all means is that customers like to feel important. This can be done by having giveaways or discounts provided on companies’ social media pages.

5.)    Hire outside experts. Lots of them- The more intelligence that you have on a project, the better experience that a customer will have. Sometimes the best man for the job isn’t working for you yet. So why not hire him?

6.)    Don’t fear consumers’ brutal honesty- Rather than shying away from the negative reviews of customers, some companies have had success broadcasting them. The most recent that caught social media being the Domino’s commercials that were promoting change in the company with customers giving terrible reviews until trying the newer products made available.

7.)    Mash-up your technology- The point they are trying to make is to try pairing things you wouldn’t normally pair with technology because eventually, something will be a hit. I could bet that the first person to dip their fries in a shake also tried some terrible combinations before that. But what is he remembered for?

8.)    Tweeten the deal- companies are trying new things in the world of Twitter to hit the millennial age group. Companies are doing events from polls to scavenger hunts to interact with their customers.

http://www.inc.com/guides/201102/new-rules-of-event-marketing.html

The Role of the CEO in Sales Leadership

The Role of the CEO in Sales Leadership

Although this article is focused on CEO’s this piece applies to anyone in a leadership role overseeing a sales team. Any good leader is savvy enough to know that the act of leadership is more than just rallying the troops, it is more about building new leaders and boosting sales. It’s challenging to be a good leader, however, even those who are savvy in leadership do not go about the process effectively.

“Research by the Sales Management Association (SMA) conducted earlier this year shows that 49 percent of firms are spending more per salesperson than they did only a few years ago. Additionally, 60 percent expected to increase spending further in the coming months. It's also worth noting that Global 2000 firms are spending more than $2.4 trillion on digital sales channels and tools.

However, in spite of this substantial investment in salespeople and tools, there seems to be a lack of suitable sales leadership, as well as dissatisfaction with the tools and strategies employed.”

CEO’s and sales leaders in general must rely on five tactics, as written by Independent Business Consultant Larry Alton:

1.       Emphasize Objective Data

2.       Realize the Cost of a Bad Hire

3.       Demand Accurate Forecasting

4.       Research and Adopt the Right Tools

5.       Develop Leaders at Every Level

Being a good leader is challenging for sure but by surrounding your team with the right people your organization can easily grow.

 http://www.inc.com/larry-alton/how-ceos-can-improve-sales-leadership.html

Interview: Alex Glembin

One of the many benefits of being a member of the American Marketing Association and/or Creative Marketing Unlimited is having a job right out of college. This week we were able to talk to Alex Glembin, a recent graduate of UW-Whitewater and a former member of AMA/CMU. 

Tell us more about what you do at your job. Elaborate on the market research part.

I think it might be easier to combine this and describing they typical week. Also, it would be easier to describe the process instead of the typical week as we have multiple projects going on at one time and depending where we are at in the projects, the week will vary. The process starts with collecting the sample and creating the survey.The sample is collected from the records that the client has. We go through multiple checks to make sure that the surveys are designed the way the client wants them to be designed. After they are finalized, we send the surveys to programmers who put it into the program and send it back to us. We then do what is called survey testing in which we go through the programmed surveys and test them. We are looking to make sure that the surveys follow the correct logic and different paths are being assigned correctly so the people who are supposed to take the surveys are taking them and those we don't want taking the surveys are getting terminated. After survey testing, we then go through fielding. This is when all of the surveys are being collected. We go through multiple data sets (prelim, raw, final) to ensure that data is coming back correctly and respondents are being asked what they are supposed to. If anything within a particular record looks to be off, we will do further examination (listening to their interview, comparing against other records, etc.) All of this data checking is done through SPSS so it is important to have a good understanding of SPSS if you are considering market research as a career. After all of the data checking, we will go through what is called populating the report. This is when we enter all of our findings into the report. We will double check these findings by comparing SPSS outputs to WinCross (a program that produces outputs similar to SPSS) in order double check numbers and make sure everything matches. After the report is checked we will make any additional formatting changes and then deliver it to the client.

Why do you think it is important to conduct research?

I think it is important to conduct research because it allows for the companies to gain a better understanding of consumer behavior. The research gives the companies a better understanding of what customers want and what they expect and what the competition is doing. If companies know what the consumer wants and expects it allows them to better tailor their products and services to consumer's wants and needs. This creates better products and services and happier consumers.
 
How has your past experience with market research helped you with where you are at now?
 
Past experiences with market research, especially in AMA, CMU, and WISC really helped me in the interview process to get this job. I was able to tell them about the different experiences I had. With each organization being different from each other, I was able to learn different ways to conduct research. There are many different processes and ways of conducting research and I feel like learning different ways through different organizations really helped. 
 
Describe a typical week for a market research position.

Like I said above, each week is different depending on the project we are working on and where we are at in the project.
 
What are the challenges of working in market research?

One of the biggest challenges for me, personally, is patience. I really learned I have to be patient and follow the process, because if you don't follow the process and you skip one thing, one missed detail could throw the whole project off and you might have to refield data. There is a process, and it is created for a reason and that is something I have learned. Also, you have to be patient with all of the double checking. There are a lot of numbers and different things to look at which takes a lot of time to check. It is important that all of the numbers are correct. If you say the satisfaction rating is 91% when it is really 92%. A  difference that small could be the difference between a client meeting their goals and a client not meeting their goals and getting fined for not reaching a certain rating.

What is the best part about your job?
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To me, the best part is discovering new trends and looking at historical patterns seeing what has changed from year-to-year. I like investigating why something has changed from year-to-year, what was different and what changed in consumer perceptions.