Week 4 Post 2: Defining YOUR target Audience

 In this instance, I have been gifted with my target audience….. Marines!!!

I have been associated with the Marines for over 26 years. I have to work with a few technical Military Occupational Specialties (MOS) The MOS is a designator for a Marines job. I work, primarily, with Marines in two different fields. One is the Communications and Electronics Maintenance field the other is the Ordnance and Optics field. Both fields have similarities and differences. However, one common thing remains and makes my role easier…… they are Marines. I speak the lingo. I know the jargon. Explaining technical aspects of the equipment is fairly simple.

My main goal is for these men and women to be able to reach out for assistance anywhere they are in the world. If social media is the way, then so be it. The front line depends on the support of the technicians repairing and servicing the equipment. I provide the support for the test equipment. Test equipment which automates several major aspects of testing. This allows for faster turn-around time of items to be repaired.

I know the test equipment. I know a little about much of the equipment it tests. I really need to invest more time learning more about the items we are able to test. Its difficult! We have over a dozen applications. Some only test a few items. Others test a dozen or so. Access to testable equipment is usually limited. Not to mention, its often changing and being upgraded.

Week 4 Post 1: Defining Target Markets

  For this assignment I chose to compare the Subway and Hungry Bear website. I noticed right away the use of CTAs by Subway. Being a national brand, with high volume sales, its probably very easy for them to implement the deals and customer incentive programs. One form Subway encourages potential customers to order a tuna sub online or through their app which they can use a promo code to receive 15% off the order. There were other offers as well. I saw no such deals on the Hungry Bear website. Both website offer picture of their products. The Hungry Bear has their logo right up front on top of a slide show of some sandwiches. The pictures in the slide show are a little dark. It makes it difficult to see the quality of the product. Subway’s slide show has vibrant pictures of their products on the homepage slide show along with a special on each or a CTA.

I clicked on the “About” for each website. The Hungry Bear has a brief statement saying they are located in Vista and offer subs, sandwiches along with salads and sides. I expected a little info about the owner and maybe something about their passion for making great subs. Subway has links to different webpages such as ‘Our Vision’, ‘Nutritional Responsibility’, ‘Community Responsibility’, ‘Environmental Responsibility’ and so on. They are putting it out there that they are involved with things greater than just making sandwiches.

The header on the Hungry Bear website has the address and phone number along with the menu bar. This leads me to believe that there is only one location. The menu bar has a button for location. I clicked on it and the page showed the address, phone number email and hours of operation. I had to scroll down to get the map and a button for getting directions, which takes you to Google Maps. The Menu button takes you to the Menu page. Again, I had to scroll down to get to the actual menu. The menu is broken up into nine sections. There is no option to view the full menu, just the different sections. The Accolades button brings you to a page where they invite you to see their Yelp reviews, a mention about being on a list by channel 10 news, Google reviews, and an invite to follow them on Instagram. The Catering button brings you to a page which you have to click on another button, Inquire Now, which takes you to another page with an online form to fill-out and submit. The Order Online button opens another webpage, in another tab in the browser. Here you can actually see the full menu. At the bottom of the page, on the left side, there are links to five social media sites and email. On the right are links for Jobs, Contact and Email Sign Up.

Subway gives you a choice of languages, a way to locate a Subway near you, careers, Gift cards and a sign in/sign up button. The menu bar has Menu, Nutrition, Catering, Rewards & Deals, Responsibility and Strat Order. While Hungry Bear has similar options as Subway with the way things are laid out, its obvious that Subway offers much more. The layout, use of CTAs, pictures, colors and other features make Subway just appear more appealing. Now, anyone that knows me, knows that I would by-pass a Subway and go for the Hungry Bear. I like supporting small, local businesses. While both places offer some similar menu items, Subway just seems more corporate and I feel like I would be getting a better-quality sandwich from the Hungry Bear. Rewards and discounts offered by Subway are nice and may be appealing to some people. I just don’t eat out enough for those things to matter.

Both businesses have the same target audience. Anyone looing for a good sub in the Vista are may be more inclined to hit up the Hungry Bear. But if you are craving a sub, and the drive to Vista is a little out of the way, Subway is probably your better option. Not to mention they offer contactless delivery.

Subway is trying to reach a world- wide audience, show case deals and show how they care about the environment and community. They are showing depth outside the sandwich world. The Hungry Bear appears to be focused on the food they serve. Being a small business, they might be involved in the community. I just didn’t find anything like that on their website.

Week 3 Part B: Developing a Brand

 Part of taking this class was to see if social media would be a good way to promote the services I provide. I work for the Department of Defense. To break that down further, I am a civilian employee of the United States Marine Corps. As a field service representative, working on a particular group of equipment, I provide a variety of services. I troubleshoot, repair and provide training on the equipment. I am one of three individuals who perform these duties. The other two are in Japan and North Carolina. Neither of them is really on board with the use of social media as a way for us to put out information or for the Marines to contact us.

The section of the Marines we work for is called Marine Corps Logistics Command. Under that umbrella we work for the Marine Depot Maintenance Center (MDMC). MDMC has a good logo we all use and its adequate. They use the tag line “Winning Battles”. All of us a pretty far removed from any battle. However, our efforts are directly affecting the training, capabilities and readiness of the front-line war fighter. I think our logo is more mechanical in nature. I work with electronic test equipment. I have considered proposing a logo design for the team I work with that would be a better representation of the support and services we actually provide.

The three of us are in our forty’s and fifty’s. You know, the early Gen X’ers. We deal, mostly, with millennials. At times, its difficult for us to relate to the customer, other than the fact that we all share the title Marine. In most cases, the customer is young enough to be one of my children.

A rebranding or creating a sub-brand may be just the thing for the younger generation to want to reach out. Even though, for most of these individuals, someone old enough to be their dad is showing up to help them. A new logo with eye catching graphics, a catchy font and tagline might be beneficial. Our current logo is a grey cog with the Marine Corps emblem in the middle. Its kind of bland. Working for the Marines, you really can’t get away from the Marines Corps emblem. I do think we could improve upon the surrounding graphics. We are electronics technicians, working on electronic test equipment. I like the idea of incorporating electronics into the logo. I am not very artistic. So, I would probably need some assistance with the graphic design.

We have a website with no links to social media because we don’t have social media. The Marine Corps, as a whole, has serval social media platforms. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and others are used by the Enterprise and major sub commands. Just not by us. Our website is generic and bland. Its really for informational purposes. I have no control over the website other than to suggest relevant changes. The administrator does just enough with it to get the info out there. Even though many segments are outdated. The perils of working with the federal government. Developing something outside the domain is frowned upon due to things like security issues and so on.

I’d like to find a way, especially in the current covid climate, for the younger Marines to reach out directly. There are many restrictions to overcome in finding the way forward.

Week 3 Part A: Aesthetics, Design, and Branding

 In this assignment, we were asked to look at principles of good social media design. Below is my opinion of the websites I viewed

National Park Service

So, I took a look at the National Park Service website (https://www.nps.gov). The first thing that hits is the Black History Month picture and link banner in the middle of the page. It’s a little overwhelming and consumes so much area. The viewer has to scroll down to see other links of interest. When I clicked on the MENU button, the menu appears and pushed the entire page down. I feel they could fit more content into the page with less scrolling if they were to reduce the size of the banner promoting Black History month. Now this is my first time visiting this website. I do not know if the web developer does this with all promotions. If they do, they may want to dial it back a bit.

The “FIND A PARK” banner goes across the entire screen. The “FIND A PARK” is a link to another page with a map. Below the “FIND A PARK” is a drop down list which you can select a state. Below the drop down list is another button “See All Parks & Search By Map”. If you click on this, it takes you to the same page as the “FIND A PARK” button. Both the “FIND A PARK” and the “See All Parks & Search By Map” do not actually look like buttons. The viewer wouldn’t even know they are buttons until they scroll over them and the mouse cursor changes. The website could use some layout improvements. Some buttons, I feel, should have borders and, maybe, a change of color so they are not blending into the banner they are on.

The website looks to be professionally done. The overall layout and link are pretty good. Pictures with titles are clickable links. I have seen some websites which this is not the case. All the pictures look professional. There are social media links at the bottom of the page for those people interested in following the NPS on those platforms.

Penny Juice

The next site I visited was Penny Juice (http://www.pennyjuice.com). Having never been to this website either, I didn’t know what to expect. The home page color scheme and picture of two kids immediately lets you know that this is a product for kids. The picture of the two kids on the main page is cute, but I can’t tell if they are finger painting or if that’s the juice and they are being really messy with it. When you scroll the page, the picture of the kids stays in place, like a background. The rest of the page runs over the picture. The page appears to lack in content, so they made up for it with large, block like color segments for each area with a link. Its great that the header banner stays in place, but the picture could roll with the page.

About halfway down the page is a picture of a product label with nutrition facts. The product label picture could be a little bigger or at least the text so that the viewer can read it without zooming in. The picture is a clickable link. I clicked on it in hopes of seeing what was on the label or getting the nutrition facts. Nope! Just more generic info on the product, most of which I learned on the home page.

If this website is professionally done, which its probably not, then it was definitely low budget. Most of the links on the home page take you to the page. I think someone at the company bought a domain name that came with three pages. The designer did their best to fill up those three pages.

 

Rover P6 Parts

For the MGBD Rover P6 enthusiast, go check out http://www.roverp6cars.com. This website is chock full of parts and links for meet-ups. If I owned one of those cars and was looking for parts, this website looks like the jackpot. The designer makes it appear as though they have everything you could ever need or want for one of the vehicles they specialize in.

The website lacks in professional design. Links area very blocky and many don’t align well on the page. The column of links on the left side can be difficult to read. The overall layout looks like they tried to cram everything they had onto one page. Pictures and logos could have been cropped better. I clicked on links to get to other pages which are a little better laid out. The whole first page gives the impression that it was not professionally done.

Gates and Fences

While the Gates and Fences (http://gatesnfences.com) website is very informative, it’s a bit wordy. I found the content very informative. There are an overwhelming amount of links. The list of links along the left side lack consistency with the buttons. This is another website which I feel is not professionally designed. A generic background, gray text blocks and bland text throughout makes for a bland page. Now, if I were looking for gates, fencing, part and pieces, this is probably a website you want to visit. It might take you a little time to sort through all the info to find what you are looking for.

Other Blogs I responded to for Wk 2 Part B

https://csit155-sp21agomez.blogspot.com/2021/02/week-2-part-b-business-research.html#more

https://csit155-sp21ttruesdale.blogspot.com/2021/02/week-2-part-b-business-research.html

Week 2 Part B - Business Research

For this project I chose to focus on four of the small business restaurants in my immediate area and one large automotive business. Below are the businesses.

Mission Ave Bar and Grill

https://www.missionavebarandgrill.com/

About: This is a locally owned restaurant which prides itself on offering what they call “an elevated bar program”. The food here is unique. The chef likes to put a new spin on cuisine by spinning in locally sourced ingredients, a little Asian flair and his own style. Fine dining meets bar food to bring it all to a new level. They pride themselves on the whiskey selection along with their 36 beer taps. Of those 36 taps, 26 are dedicated to California craft beers. Many of which are brewed right here in San Diego County.

SM Linked on Website: Instagram, Facebook and Yelp

The latest entry on Yelp was a review posted by a customer on 2/8/21. The last response from the owner on a review was 1/22/21. Since 2014, they have received 723 reviews with the majority be 5 stars. I don’t really consider Yelp to be a SM platform. However, it can be used to for researching a venue.

On Instagram, they have 443 posts with the latest one being 1/29/21. They have 3,816 followers and are following 1,373. Several of their followers and who they are following are other small businesses in the area.

On Facebook, they have over 500 posts with the latest one being 12/22/20. They have 2,502 likes for the page and 2,639 followers with 11,090 people having checked in. Several of their followers and who they are following are other small businesses in the area.

Mission Ave Bar and Grill has an easy to navigate webpage. Large buttons for the different segments of the website make it easy to navigate. Its nice that you can make reservations on the website via YELP. Their SM pages could have more posts. They do post new menu items and specials when they have them. The employees make posts which they tag the business.

Breakwater Brewing Co.

https://breakwaterbrewing.com/

About: This is a locally owned restaurant and brewery. They are best known for their beer which is brewed in house and the pizza. The pizza dough is made in house with the owners own recipe. The menu offers more than just pizza. They have a well-rounded menu and great food in this small downtown restaurant and brewery.

SM Linked on Website: Twitter, Facebook and Yelp

The latest entry on Yelp was a review posted by a customer on 1/31/21. Since 2008, they have received 626 reviews with the majority be 4 to 5 stars. I don’t really consider Yelp to be a SM platform. However, it can be used to for researching a venue.

On Twitter, the latest post is 6/19/20 They have 1,392 followers and are following 2,776. I can’t see much more here as I don’t have a twitter account

On Facebook, they have over 1000 posts with the latest one being 2/3/21. They have 4,927 likes for the page and 5,238 followers with 26,217 people having checked in. Several of their followers and who they are following are other small businesses in the area.

Breakwater Brewing has an easy to navigate webpage. Large buttons for the different segments of the website make it easy to navigate. Reservations and take-out ordering can be done via the website. Their SM pages could have more posts. They do post new menu items and specials when they have them. They are geo-tagged by many of their customers.

Flying Pig Pub and Kitchen

https://flyingpig.pub/

About: This is a locally owned restaurant with the mentality of using organic, local and grow our own when possible. Their product line consists of locally grown beef, pork, fish and sustainably farmed seafood. They make as much of their food from scratch as possible to include in-house butchering. The bar has boutique wine, local craft beer, and a great collect of spirits.

SM Linked on Website: Twitter, Facebook and Yelp

The Yelp link led to a Yelp page which was for their previous, now closed location in Vista.

On Instagram, they are very active. The latest post is 2/8/21. They have 12.6k followers and are following over7k. They have nearly 4k posts. They promote other businesses, charities and local events around the area.

On Facebook, they have over 3k posts with the latest one being 2/3/21. They have nearly 8k likes for the page and over 8k followers with over 24k people having checked in. Several of their followers and who they are following are other small businesses in the area.

Flying Pig, like the other restaurants, has an easy to navigate webpage. Large buttons for the different segments of the website make it easy to navigate. Reservations and take-out ordering can be done via phone and the number is easy to find on the website. You can send a request via the website for parties. They do post new menu items and specials when they have them. They are geo-tagged by many of their customers.

Privateer Coal Fired Pizza

https://www.theprivateercoalfirepizza.com/

About: This is a locally family-owned restaurant which goes beyond pizza. The coal fired pizza is great, but don’t stop there. If you are in the mood for a good burger or salad, this is a place you should try. They also have a great beer and wine selection.

SM Linked on Website: Twitter, Facebook and Yelp

On Yelp they have had over 600 reviews. The majority of which a 4 and 5 star.

On Instagram, they are very active. The latest post is 2/7/21. They have almost 7k followers and are following over4k. They have nearly 4k posts. They promote other businesses, charities and local events around the area.

On Facebook, they have over 2k posts with the latest one being 2/7/21. They have over 2k likes for the page and over 2k followers with over 8k people having checked in. Like the other restaurants, several of their followers and who they are following are other small businesses in the area.

Like the other restaurants, they have an easy to navigate webpage. The website has rather large pictures which can be distracting from other parts and text on the site. I would like to see all the link buttons located at the top or on the side. You have to hunt for some things. Online ordering is easy through their website and they have a link for DoorDash.

GMC

https://www.gmc.com/

The GMC website is massive. Of course, I expected this from a major automobile manufacturer. The website hosts their complete line-up of trucks and SUVs. Had I gone with GM.com, I would have gotten links to all the other brands GM makes.

This website offers so many services. The line-up, virtual builds, pricing, dealer locator, serving locator and after market parts just to name a few.

SM Linked on the Website: Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and In stagram

Unlike the reviews I did for the four local restaurants, their SM platforms are massive. Obviously, they are managed by teams of professionals who are constantly updating the content and information. I thought they would have more followers and posts. On Instagram, 1,042 posts and 898k followers. Honestly, I thought the followers might be in the millions. Now Facebook is where the numbers are. Almost 2 million people liked the page with nearly the same amount following. Of course, Youtube is chock full of content. Not having an account with Twitter limits what I could see. Over 1 million followers and they are following over 5k.

The difference in content from small business to large is obvious. GMC has professional photos and videos that probably were not taken with a cell phone. Having that kind of budget and money to put towards marketing really makes a difference. GMC give several avenues in which you can contact them through the website and social media.

 

Each business gives you ways to contact them. For the small businesses, calling or emailing seems to be the best way to communicate with them. Responses on SM are limited to the availability of the owner or a designated employee. Responses are typically done during normal business hours. While GMC has several ways of contacting them depending on your needs. Granted, they have vehicle sales, service and aftermarket accessories just to name a few of the areas. So, whatever you need, there is a different section for contacting them.

Each of the small businesses allowed you to sign up for a newsletter. I have no idea as to the frequency of the newsletters. They could be weekly, monthly or when ever they put together enough information to generate one. The small businesses tend to keep their websites simple. Food and drink menus, SM links and contact info are standard. Each one has a small ‘About’ section which provides a brief history and overview of the company.

During my research I found out a little about the small restaurants in my area which I like to frequent. Some tings I didn’t know, such as their involvement in the local communities. They assist each other, advertise for one another and by products from each other. Collaborations for specials and menu items like pairing drinks and foods. They like to keep a tight knit community.

Week 2 Part A: Communication Between Business & Consumer

Nearly gone are the days of talking with a real person when trying to contact a large business. At times, if you do get a real person on the phone, They work for an outsourced call center. They have limited knowledge and resources available to actually be of assistance. In my younger years, a phone call and/or a written letter sent through the mail were your best course of action.

Today, we can call, email, chat, direct website and social medial access give the consumer more power and options. I can use social media (SM) platforms and "Hashtags" to get noticed by a company. None of them want negative publicity. So, if I have a problem with a product or service. I can jump on SM. Putting the company on blast for all the world to see. Most companies, if paying attention, will jump on this immediately in an effort to resolve the issue and squelch the negative. They will want to show the world that they are actively concerned about the customers satisfaction, not only with the product, but the service. 

Positive posts can result in perks. Companies have offered rewards such as discounts, coupons and free merchandise for positive reviews. I bought a product from Amazon. I liked it, so I left a positive review for them. The retailer sent me an email with a list of products (4 items) to chose from as a thank you for the review. It took forever4 to get the product. I think it came from China. But, I eventually received it.

Forty years ago, word of mouth was the best way to pass positive or negative reviews about a business. You could even write a letter to the local newspaper in hopes of its publication for others to read. Usually, this kept reviews of a company confined to a small geographical area. SM and the Internet of things changed all that. Now we can broadcast to the world, from anywhere in the world, at any time. 

In general, I like to leave positive feedback for a business. If I buy a product or service and its really good, I want people to know. I want my friends and family to have the same experience. On the other hand, following that same principle with a bad product or service. I may take that to the next level. Especially, if I have made efforts to work with the business to resolve my issue and I am still dissatisfied. In August, I purchased a product. It malfunctioned about a month ago. I contacted the retailer, The retailer informed me that the product was outside their time line for returns and I would have to contact the manufacturer. I jumped on the manufacturer's website. I quickly found how to contact them and the info they required. They quickly contacted me back and asked that I send them the product and they will replace it free of charge. The manager even called me to follow up on my satisfaction of the process. Nice job iOGEAR!!!

If I had a business on SM I'd like to think that I would handle the good and the bad in a positive manner. Positive comments and reviews may be met with some sort of incentive for a person taking the time to basically give free positive advertisement. 

Negative comments or reviews need to be handled delicately. Determine what the specific issue is and try to rectify it as soon as possible. Be sure the consumer is satisfied. I may even ask them to retract the negative and replace it with a positive review. In some cases, it may be too late and the damage is done. I would strive to rectify any situation which might lead to a negative comment or review.

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Week1 PartB Blogs I Commented On

 For this assignment, I commented on the following blogs:

Emilie Banks - https://csit155-sp21ebanks.blogspot.com/

Natasha Flaherty - https://csit155-sp21-natashaf.blogspot.com/

Caleb Sanchez - https://csit155-sp21-calebs.blogspot.com/