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.