Week 4: Defining a Target Market

The Business I will be representing for the duration of this class is my current watch company Original Grain. We have been in business for just under one year and have been able to cause a good amount of  disruption in the the wood watch niche and penetrate into the watch market as a whole.

Target Market Through Demographics

With a collection of demographic statistics we have gathered supporting evidence that shows most of our sales come from a specific customer base. We are bale to offer for both Men and Women- with our Guy Girl collections we are able to target both genders when marketing: However we have a higher male conversion. Our highest rate of sales comes from a customer base that ages 24-40.

Our price point of our watches ranges from $175-$195. At this price point it may keep some buyers from wanting to fork over the cash, with this we are able to market to a higher class of buyers. A $200 price point is very realistic for someone to spend on a watch but mostly for customers who have careers. This makes it easy to know we are targeting young professionals and to the other working class. 

The income level of most of our customers is between $50,000-$75,000 annual income. This info also supports our $200 price point emphasis. 

Physchographics 

Our watch line consists of all Natural wood and Stainless steel, With our Natural wood we appeal to all outdoor enthusiasts, as well as any wood crafters. Through retargeting efforts we have found our best conversion rates from customers who are living in bigger cities. This may due to the design features and our watches being appealing as high fashion oriented.

The lifestyle of our brand is created through our Natural wood appeal and the use of the outdoors. We leverage the outdoor feel to try and generate good marketing entailing the promotion of being active and outdoors. Our watches are very fashionable and we present our watches as Original hence the name Original Grain. We have been able to promote that to our customer base and market to our customers to Stay Original.

Soon Original Grain will be using all reclaimed materials being able to market to the eco-friendly community which will generate a bigger following and target market. We have chosen to go with recycled materials because given we are using wood we would like to help in the efforts to not only create beautiful watches out of nature but preserve it as well.

week 3: Frequently Visited Websites

The Chive

The Chive is effective because of its content. They provide picture driven updates separated by different humorous categories. This website is typically for the browsing man that has some free time on his hands. The Chive  has an amazing platform and its website layout is well done. I enjoy coming back to their website again and again for the content that is posted.

I have been made to believe that the layout and design aspects also makes this site appealing other tha n its content.  The aesthetics of this website are great, with imagery that is eye catching and headlines that will draw you in and its easy to look around. The website has a theme and color that they follow throughout the site.  Not only do the images catch your eye but the Headlines are very creative and have you wondering what photos may be on the other side of that link, making it very encouraging to want to click through the content

A question I do pose about the website is on the website at the top they have their "sister websites". For example:same kind of website platform "theBrigade" but its more military focused, or "theBerry" which is just like the Chive but directed towards female viewership. I wonder why they don't promote these websites and direct traffic to check out the links above. Or possible try to explain the other links. The Chive may have a reason for it but I'm not sure why at this time why they don't promote their other platforms as much.



Jack Threads

Jack threads is a great website for discount trend clothing shopping. They provide companies that have original style and of course are discounted to save us a few pennies. This website has all categories of clothing and accessories and provides the customers with updates on new releases, new discounts, and whats to come.

I do like that Jackthreads is easy to use, surfing through different categories is easy to pinpoint on the webpage and is very user friendly. There navigation bar and drop down menu is clearly separated and you can go from one category to another fairly easy.

The website layout I think could actually be a little better but they provide good imagery that makes up for the layout. The main page is separated by box categories but doesn't provide great Hierarchy or typography that is too appealing. This flash sale site has all means to be great to find great deals but the website design could use some separation of categories on the main page. Everything seems a bit jammed together and is hard to to see much separation between the categories at first glance.

Week 3: Principles of Good Social Media Design

Websites I chose that portray potential problems

http://tectorch.com/   -  website 1:Potential problems

Hierarchy -Problems I found with this site is immediately I look for something to draw me in. I immediately see the imagery which looks like it could be their office building but regardless it doesn't have anything to do with the product they are selling. There is no Hierarchy to this website and nothing stands out until you scroll down the page.

Alignment- The alignment to this site is out of wack. With all the text on top they do not provide any pattern of which it is laid out.

Typography-The text to this site is very bold and small. Makes it hard to read and very uninviting to want to read through the information provided.

http://www.swagelok.com/  - website 2 : Potential problems

*Hierarchy- I would like to be able to open the page up and instantaneously know what the product being sold it. Give the viewers a company feel and allow them to see your products sold. On this website it is confusing as to what they are selling until you scroll and do small amount of research. You have a few seconds to capture the viewer before they move on. If this site was establish better imagery and Hierarchy could be a good page layout.

*Typography- The text used on the homepage is not clearly visible nor is it inviting to want to read.

*Concept and contrast- Website layout doesn't provide must contrast and items that pop. Everything is very standard. I understand they are not a lifestyle brand that has better imagery but I feel like it should be accounted for when trying to sell via e-commerce.

Websites I picked as a representation of a good website:

http://www.ford.com/  - Website 1: good website

*Immediately as I open this website for 1 visually its great, it provides me with everything I need right away. Shows a cool image of their cars and a nice backdrop. As well they show their brand name in multiple spots on each page, this provides the visitor with a sense of security.

This site also shows a good level of contrast ,Hierarchy, and repetition throughout the website. 

*User friendly- Very user friendly I don't have to look around much when trying to find cars, trucks, etc. Provide a nice drop down feature where it shows the specific trucks you may be looking for. Easy to use and move around throughout the website.

http://www.apple.com/  - website 2: good website

*The depth and content of these pages apple provides is very simple. They don't have long pages you need to scroll through and you just need to select which section you want to learn about through the drop down menu on top.

*Navigating through this website is easy as states above, just follow the drop down menu and select which category you would like to be searching.

*Alignment- I enjoy the alignment to this website. Not every time does it line up perfectly but its set up to be like that. Sometime they will have a bigger image and two small images below that are the same width as the big one on top. Provides a bit of flare to the website.

Week 2: Business Websites and Social Media URL's

Here are 5 Business's that I keep good contact with and I encourage people to follow these businesses to learn a lot about great marketing and audience building. These companies keep it very fresh with their posts and encourage their audience to engage with the content given!



*Secret Entourage- 
website - http://www.secretentourage.com/
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/secretentourage
Twitter- https://twitter.com/SecretEntourage
Tumblr- http://secretentourage.tumblr.com/





*Nixon
Website- http://www.nixon.com/us/en/
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/nixon
Twitter- https://twitter.com/Nixon_Now
Tumblr- http://nixon.tumblr.com/
Instagram- http://instagram.com/nixon_now








*Puravida bracelets
Website- http://puravidabracelets.com/
 Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/puravidabracelets
Twitter- https://twitter.com/puravidabrac
Tumblr- http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/puravida
Instagram- http://instagram.com/puravidabracelets/








*Mica movement
Website- http://www.micamove.com/
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/MicaMovement
Twitter- https://twitter.com/micamove
Tumblr- http://tumblr.micamove.com/
Instagram- http://instagram.com/micamovement








*Original Grain
Website- http://www.originalgrain.com/
Facebook-https://www.facebook.com/originalgrain
Twitter- https://twitter.com/OriginalGrain
Tumblr- http://originalgrain.tumblr.com/
Instagram-http://instagram.com/originalgrain

Week 2: Communicating with Business's through Social Media

Communicating with a Business can be difficult, depending on what you may want to say to them is always substantial as to when and if they reply. You can always send them a personalized email to their support/customer service if it may require any return or possibly a question you may have.  If you are going to reach out to a company through social medias its good to have some fire behind what you are trying to get at in order to get a response.

My company Original Grain always encourages their fans to reach out. But the context of which they approach is very important. We ask our fans to post pics of their product, with our Call to Action being if you do we will repost on our Fan Friday. This allows our fans to share our product/company to their friends and we then repost some of the photos. This creates a hype each week on who is going to get features on OG Social Medias.  **Below is an example of a shot that was submitted to us by a fan.**

When I first started I would always try and contact companies on a public platform, (faecbook/instagram/twitter) whether they liked it or not didn't matter to me as much as anyone who is looking at their post will see my companies post too. I would contact blogs and product review sites like Necessary coolness or Watchismo.(2 huge blogs that do cool reviews on companies and products) I had reached out to them on their Facebook and 2 of their fans had said" would love to do a Giveaway on your watches Original Gran." Not only did we do the giveaway but it generated a bunch of new likes for my page and we attained a new fan base.

Like I had said previously, When contacting companies through social media bring a good question or something informative. Many companies do not like to address individual matters and of course any kind of discrepancies on a public platform like Facebook. They will most likely forward you to their customer service department who will handle any FAQ.

Week 1: Business vs Personal Social Media

Business and play,Work and social life, its all a juggling act when applied and used for certain purposes. All social media platforms are used for one thing, exposure! Weather its for what you are currently doing or what you business is selling, exposure is all relative. To get the info out to the Cyber Galaxy is the  primary focus and purpose to making new posts to these social media news feeds.

As I have found some platforms work best when leaned towards your business and other platforms are just better for a personal update to friends and family. Starting with the basics- 

Facebook 

For a business its very easy to post and update but hard for all of your followers to see each and every post you make. As you may have already found, you don't see everyones posts. Facebook comes with an algorithm that allows you to stay connected with friends that you have been in contact with and allows you to mainly stay in tune with there updates rather than friends you may have been out of touch with. The best way I have found to counteract this and use Facebook most efficiently and attack its masses of exposure is to use the post boosting features. These boosts are set to certain tiers, for example if you make a $5-$10 marketing fee, your posts will be viewed by up to 10,000 Facebook subscribers. But for instance in cases when I don't make this upgrade I have had posts only be viewed by as little as a couple hundred viewers. This makes it tough for you to get your information out to the colume of which you would like to if you don't push these post busting features.

However Facebook is great for Personal use. It allows you to stay connected with the people you stay in contact with on a more daily basis. The benefits of Facebook right now is the amount of users who have a Facebook account, at this day in age its uncommon to find people without a Facebook, making the decision to want to market on this platform a sellers dream!

Original Grain-- follow here for Original Grain Facebook 

Instagram/Tumblr/Pintrist

Great for your brand. Allows you to portray your brand lifestyle feel through images and detailed text. These avenues is great for personal and business exposure and allows a great avenue to get information to the public.

Original Grain --follow this to Original Grain Instagram

Twitter/ linked in

Although these are great for networking and updates these two platforms are used best used through your personal efforts. To make updates readily available for your followers that don't always have huge impact but gets the information out there, 

All Social media Created equal

For me Ive found all platforms can be used effectively if done properly. From Etsy to Pintrist, Facebook to Twitter these platforms provide one thing...Traffic!

As long as you can be providing good content it will get views. For me I choose to make most my marketing efforts towards Facebook and Instagram for my Business. Not only is this where I have attained a solid following but for our brand at this time this is where our market is best reached through. Some businesses may have better attraction geared towards other platforms, all about playing within your market and finding where you audience is located and be best reached.