Week Four: Target Market

My Target Market Scratch This. See Week Four *Update*

The business I chose to represent for the duration of the course is my current employer, a charity called Cancer for College that provides college scholarships to cancer survivors. Selecting a target market was a bit challenging because we have two distinct markets – one is the donor and the other is the recipient.  For the purpose of this class, I’ve decided to market towards the recipient with the goal of increasing the awareness of the scholarships we provide and ultimately gaining more applicants.

And so, the analysis of my target market includes:

Demographic Analysis:

Young men and women aged 17-25

Cancer patients or cancer survivors

College students or high school seniors

US residents attending school in the US
Most likely financially burdened by cost of cancer treatments

Psychographic Analysis:

Motivated to succeed

Believe in the value of a college education

Willing to work hard despite setbacks and challenges
(Being a Will Ferrell Fan is a plus, because he is our celebrity superhero)

Behavior Analysis:

The individuals in our target market are willing to do the work required to apply for scholarship funds to assist in paying for their college tuition.  They are students who have overcome the challenge of a life threatening disease and have not let cancer beat their spirit or dampen their dreams.

Week Three - Aesthetics, Design & Branding (Part 2)

Two Websites I Use or Visit Frequently

One website I have been using frequently is the Michael J. Fox Foundation website (www.michaeljfox.org). I find it very effective due to its simplicity even though there is a tremendous amount of information on it. The design principles they include are excellent depth of content, ease of use, and contrast. I keep returning because I think it is an excellent example of a non-profit website and I would like to incorporate some of the design strategies they use. I haven't found anything that I feel needs improvement.

The second website I visit frequently is the company that I work for, Cancer for College (www.cancerforcollege).  I don't feel the website is terribly effective and it is in need of an overhaul. The only design principles that I believe are used effectively are repetition and depth of content. I return often because I get questions about the company and I am a relatively new employee and can find answers there. There are MANY areas that can be improved.  As I said, I think it needs a total overhaul.

Week Three - Aesthetics, Design & Branding (Part 1)

What Works and What Doesn't

What Works
Three websites that I believe get things right are Apple, Toyota and Swagelok.

Apple has always been a design leader and their website is no exception. What I think they get right is:
 1) With Apple it's all about the brand
 2) Its very easy to find what you are looking for. Navigating  to the product you want takes only one, maybe two clicks
 3) White the page length seems a little long and requires  lots of scrolling, the huge images and simple text make it  easy on the eyes.

Toyota is another example of a company with a well executed website. Their website has the advantages of:
 1) Repetition: they use consistent branding and navigation on  each page
 2) Similar to Apple's page, there is a very pleasing ease of  use due to clear navigation and many ways to get to the  information you are looking for
 3) The use of white space and alignment make the page  aesthetically pleasing

I found Swagelok did some things well. Although not as simple as the previous two pages mentioned, they did have elements that make a  content heavy website work.
 1) Their home page works. They explained what their company  did on the top of the  first page! I thought that was very  effective for a company that is not a household name like  Apple or Toyota. 
 2) Navigation was clear and simple with each page you  navigate to giving further related sub-navigation
 3) Each page required minimal scrolling to see all the  information


What Doesn't
There are many ways to create effective websites, and just as many ways to mess them up. There are three websites that I identified as having design elements that could be an issue for visitors or potential customers. Those were the sites for Tech Welding Products, G Force Race Cars, and Paul Wheaton's Permaculture Articles. 

The first site I looked at was TechTorch. I was instantly overwhelmed. There was simply too much going on. I felt the layout was a little awkward and the proportions were off. The font sizes varied too widely and was too small in comparison with the featured products' photos. There was also a complete lack of branding. I believe the TechTorch website would be drastically improved with: 
 1) Include branding and logos
 2) Better navigation. Such as moving the company history and  testimonials to their own page (return visitors and regular  customers don't need to see that info every time they access  the website)
 3) Improved font size consistency

The second site I found that could use improvements for customer ease of use was G Force Race Cars. While their page is far more aesthetically pleasing, there were still issues with their page that are worth correcting. 
 1) The home page is too similar to the news page
 2) Page length is consistently too long
 3) The *Featured Products* animation is incredibly  distracting and has no apparent purpose 

Finally, the website that I identified as having the most significant issues is the raising chickens website called Paul Wheaton's Permaculture Articles. This particular page made me want to run away as fast as I could. I was extraordinarily distracted by his lack of capital letters, which given the constant use of the technique was likely intentional, but it bugged me. Also, I want to know... what the heck is permaculture? The website to asssumes you already know. I did find that "raising chickens" was just a sub-page of a much larger website www.richsoil.com which, at first, appears to be a more organized site, but the issues run consistent in all the pages I visited. The main issues I identified were:
 1) No visible "Home" or introduction to the page ~ the  articles  just start with no additional information for his  visitors.  I  felt like I was reading insider information  and newbies weren't welcome
 2) It is not aesthetically pleasing at all
 3) The pages run WAY too long

Week Two - Communication: Business & Consumer (Part 2)

5 Businesses & Their Social Media
Cancer for College
www.cancerforcollege.org
Facebook
Twitter
Wordpress Blog

REI
www.rei.com
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterist
YouTube

Stupid Cancer
http://stupidcancer.org
You Tube
Google +
Pinterist
Facebook
Twiiter
Instagram
LinkedIn

Landyachtz
www.landyachtz.com
Instagram
YouTube
Twitter
Facebook
Tumblr

Michael J. Fox Foundation
www.michaeljfox.org
Facebook
Twitter
Google+
Pinterist

Week Two - Communication: Business & Consumer (Part 1)

I'm embarrassed to say that I found this assignment particularly challenging.  The last several business that I dealt with when I had issues were handled through email.  While not terribly fulfilling experiences, they were adequately handled and the results were acceptable.  This is why it was challenging.  It all worked out and I'm not really sure if or how social media may have changed the outcome.  The only difference that it may have made could be that the communication exchanges may have occurred a little more quickly, but without watching for that response, I may have missed them.  The only other way that I see using social media would be to complain about a service to bring greater attention to my issue and hope that it would urge the company to respond.  Like I said, I struggled with this one.  I will check out other blogs to explore differing views on the matter.

Week One - Introduction (Part 2)

Nothing Personal, It's Just Business...
Which social media platforms seem geared towards personal use and which ones seem to work better for business?

For me, trying to determine which social media platform is best for business or personal is a bit convoluted.  I may be very wrong, but I think that the majority of the major current social media platforms began as more personal social spaces that have morphed into something more.  The only exception to this I believe, is LinkedIn.  I will try to untangle the two and express my understanding of which platforms lend themselves more to one or the other.

I think the king of business platforms would have to be LinkedIn. This is one site that does not seem to cross the business/personal barrier much. It is the leader in business platforms and is excellent for recruiting and networking. It does seem to be more geared towards the B2B sector than any of the other major players. Another business friendly platform that I don't know much about, but have been hearing more recently, is Google+. From my understanding it is a strong performer in the B2C sector. I think this is true because Google search is so widely used that having a Google+ presence just makes sense.

Facebook and Twitter fall more into the personal realm, although they are both widely used by businesses. There are far more personal profiles on Facebook than there are company pages. It is clear that promoting or having a presence on Facebook is becoming essential for business growth. Twitter is an interesting crossover for me. I see it as a personal platform, but when we follow celebrities it is really about business - about promoting themselves.

I think it is those blurred lines that make social media work for business. We develop trust in something from having a personal connection ~ and I think social media can make building those connections much easier.