Last Week of Work

For my last week of work, the start of the week was very hectic. My boss David was gathering all of his information such as numbers, samples of the product, as well as sample packaging for UPSURGE, along with many other things to take with him to Outdoor Retail Event in Salt Lake City, Utah. For the rest of the week I was to work on my new project which was the new business list for Elastic Therapy Inc. main product line. From Tuesday to Friday I spent numerous and tedious hours in front of the computer using LinkedIn to find names and numbers of different corporations to possibly supply. I added the names and numbers to the excel sheet which my boss and other workers had already started for me to complete this week. Over all this internship was a worthy and great experience. I was able to take a lot of business aspects away from it especially how to put together and implement a marketing strategy.

New Project Assignment

At the start of this week I was assigned a new project. The project was for me to come up with a grassroots marketing strategy. The grassroots marketing strategy consited of event marketing, social marketing, team marketing, off-event location marketing, and additonal ideas. The event marketing segement was a list of contacts we have developed with companies/organizations that put on events, as well as list of popular triathlon and marathon event names and contacts to them. The social marketing aspect was about developing a facebook page and possible ideas to go along with that as well as a blog that would be updated weekly by an athlete that wears UPSURGE and competes reguarly. The off event location marketing was speaking at triathlon, cycling, or running club meetings and promotion the UPSURGE brand. Addtional ideas consisted of possible give aways in goodie-bags at events or a gift card for the athelets that place in the event. In the middle of the week we had a conference call with Lindsey Acer who works for USA Triathlon. Our conference call consisted of acquring information about USA Triathlon and what sponsorship packages they provided as well as booth information. Later on that same day we had a meeting with Dr. Combs about our grassroots marketing strategy since he would be working with us on that part of the UPSURGE development. Another task which I was assigned with was designing possible business cards for David my boss and Burke the VP of ETI. This was a task which I had a good time working on because I had no restrictions and was able to have fun with it. At the end of the week I was assigned a another project but it had nothing to do with UPSURGE. It was to continue the work of David and other colleags of his which was a new business list for ETI's main work which is compression hoisery. I was to work on this project all next week as David and Burke would be gone Monday to Thursday at OR in Salt Lake, Utah. Look for my next blog as I talk about a crazy start to the week getting things together for David and Burkr's trip to OR and what new things I come across with my next project.

Closing in on the end

At the start of the week I completely finished up the latest project I was working on which was an excel sheet of all the different types of hosiery that our competitors make and all the information about their products. Once I was done with that I went back to working on the original project. I further continued to locate and contact companies or organizations that put on events and acquiring as much information as possible about booths and sponsorships. In the middle of the week my boss, David, had me look at some sample images of what the product box might possibly look like. After looking at the different samples I told him which one I liked best and explained to him the reasoning why I chose that specific sample. He was impressed with how I broke down each sample an why I did or did not like it from a marketing perspective. Towards the end of the week I sat in on some project management meetings and phone calls. The project management meeting was a great learning experience as was the conference call. The conference call was with a potential rep firm that we might work with. We also went over the proposal they came up with for us and broke down each phase and what exact services they were providing us. Look for my next blog as it might be my last week of working with ETI and see what new things I discovered.

New Progress

This past week at ETI we made great advancements in our project, getting the graduated compression sock and sleeve complete. A lot of my week was spent doing research looking for rep firms all over the U.S. in different regions such as Florida, California, Texas, and New york that would possibly be interested in carrying out new product. For the most part I either emailed the organization or made a cold call to them in hopes of gaining their interest in carrying our new products. Some organization such as Eastern Outdoor Reps Association allowed us to post position descriptions which allow reps to find your company and product online and read about you that way. Along with looking up rep firms I also looked into states that put on triathlon events such as Tri California or Tri Florida and acquiring information about getting booths at events or expos for promoting our new product. I also emailed and made cold calls to these organizationsd to find the information I was seeking. Towards the end of the week I spent a little time researching Facebook pages of our competitors to get ideas for ETI's own Facebook page. I did not get to spend much time looking into this so look for my next blog to see what ideas will be discovered.In addition to doing work on the graduated compression sock and sleeve project, I had to help my boss with another project of his own. From a list of all the competitors that make different graduated compression socks and stockings for venous disorders I had to find the prices they offered, their mmHg (millimeters of mercury), what material they were made out of, sizes, colors, and if they were knee high, thigh high, pantyhose high or maturnity pantyhose high. This took a great deal of time and concentration with comparring all this information on different sites.

What is ETI?

Elastic Therapy Inc. is a private manufacture company that makes medical compression hosiery for people with venous disorders. They make all different types of hosier that go from knee high, thigh high, and pantyhose high. The compression hosiery is to help with blood flow and circulation. At the front of the building is the offices and in the back is the factory and machines where all the different types of hosiery are made. All of the hosiery is made with different compression levels going from 15 all the way to 40. The gentleman I work with is David Stubbs who is Director of Marketing. This summer I will be working on a strategic marketing plan for a new product.

A New Beginning

On June 16 2010 I went to Elastic Therapy Inc. for an interview to be an intern. At the end of the meeting I found out that I was accepted for the position and would be starting full time Monday. That Friday I went to a social marketing boot camp to learn about how to use Facebook, youtube, twitter, and linkden to help a company succeed. ETI is private company that manufactures its own medical compression dress socks for men and women along with compression hosiery for various Venus disorders. On Monday I arrived at work and met with David Stubbs, the gentleman I would be working with, on the new project they had in mind. The project was to promote, market, and get the word out about their new product. That new product was a graduated compression sock and sleeve that would be used my runners, cyclist, and tri-athletes to help with performance and recovery. Plans for the future would be to get the socks and sleeves into team sports such as soccer, baseball, football, etc. For my first week of work I was to familiarize myself with what exactly graduated compression was and what our competitors had to offer in comparison to our sock and sleeve. Along with that I made an excel sheet of the prices our competitors offered their sock and sleeve at to get and idea at what price rang we would offer our two products. Throughout the week I also looked into finding running, cycling and triathlon shops in NC that we would be able to get our product into. I also looked into finding all the possible running, cycling, and triathlon clubs in NC to possibly test out product and spread the news about it via by word or mouth. All of which I made into excel sheets for later reference. Along with looking up this information and making excel sheets I looked into companies that put on cycling, running, or triathlon events and possible getting a booth to promote the sock and sleeve at events to inform the athletes. Some additional information I looked into was running, cycling, and triathlon magazines to possible get advertisement space in for the sock and sleeve. So as you can see for my first week on the job I spent a lot of time looking up and researching information on the Internet and putting that information into excel sheets to make easier and for later use. I will unfortunately be off the next week and half as I have to go home and get my wisdom teeth out and wont return to work till July 12 because ETI is closed the following week after 4Th of July. Look forward to my next blog and what new information I found.