those crazy college students...

lauren · Post by **lauren** » Thu Feb 19, 2004 9:32 pm

last month a coworker (a senior marketing major at a local college) surprised me with the fact that as her marketing senior project, her and her team of classmates had to choose a small business and create/modify/expand it's marketing plan. their grades are based on the noticable improvements within the business. (it's a two semester course so that means improvements from now till next winter) she had brought in a couple of my pieces and her team chose me as their business. YAY! i now have 7 soon to be marketing execs climbing over themselves to make my business successfull. we've only met twice, but we've dissected the hell out of my business plan (err, rather we pretty much trashed it and started over), we're re-evaluating my target market and distribution (more focus on wholesale) and most of them also have extensive class experience in accounting so they're helping me with my business set up (what i find to be my weakest point) this is amazing. i just bring some soda and sandwiches and they start cracking.

i talked to their professor and apparently most if not all marketing seniors have to do a project like this. he said that businesses should contact the head of the marketing department at a local college to 'volunteer' themselves, he always recommends these businesses to students having trouble finding ones on their own.

i just wanted to pass along the info, i'm completely blown away by how great this is.

peace
- lauren

watershed · Post by **watershed** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 11:48 pm

Sounds great. Try to help them by staying up on the WHolesale shows, and sales. There was some depressing-esque news from Rosen Balt. But mostly blown work folks. You can check the Craftweb board, in "Cords" for the thread.

Good Luck

Greg

Susan Moore · Post by **Susan Moore** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 12:05 am

Lauren,

Thanks for posting this info. I think it's a great idea and a real win-win situation for you and the students. Marketing is probably one of the areas that artists tend to need the most assistance with. I'm finding that even starting a small jewelry business has so many aspects that I hadn't really thought about and each area takes time to learn. Having a team of 7 in your marketing dept is incredible. I'm going to check here in Austin for a similar project. Thx.

Susan