HI, HOW ARE YA?

October 10, 2019 at 5:00 pm (Advertising, Big Moves, brand, career, communication, Cultures, Listening skills, Marketing, Motivation, Social Media in the workplace, Social Media/Technology)
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What really is a “brand” anyway? A brand, by definition, is a type of product manufactured by a particular company under a particular name.

If you really think about it, a lot of things/people have brands.

For example, Jeffree Star is well known in the makeup industry for the amazing makeup that he produces. 

Jeffree makes his money in multiple different ways,

  1. YouTube:  
    • Where most people are familiar with this big brand influencer
    • Not even where the bulk of his money comes from
    • 16.2 million subscribers on YouTube and growing
    • His views average from 4M-35M
    • His YouTube videos give him a 6 figure pay out each year, easily
    • He is the richest YouTuber
    • He is the 2nd highest subscribed person on YouTube in the beauty section
  2. Makeup:
    • His empire, also where most people know him
    • Makes $150 million a year, which 70 million of, he pockets
    • Profits 7.2 million for every product launch
    • Independent brand, not a large owned brand which means he profits more
This is Jeffree’s brand logo, if you notice his last name is Star, so for his logo it is a star.
  1. Real Estate/ Marijuana
    • These are side investments that Star has took interest in
    • These are basically backups if the makeup brand does not work out

Jeffree has a lot of things that come together to make his brand, and make it signature to him. His logo of a star, which is also his last name, and the intro to his YouTube video.

Star has three personal homes, and 10 businesses he is running besides his makeup brand.

How to Create a Brand

  1. Determine your brand’s audience.
    • Motivation
    • Pain points
    • Influencers
    • College students
    • Single moms
  2. Establish your brand mission statement.
    • “Just do it.” – Nike
  3. Research bands within your industry niche.
    • The goal is to differentiate from your competition
  4. Outline key qualities and benefits your brand offers.
    • A better way to support productivity
    • Reducing costs with more affordable options
  5. Create a brand logo and tagline.
    • Logo size and placement
    • Color pallet
    • Web elements
    • Photography/image style
  6. Form your brand voice.
    • Professional
    • Technical
    • Friendly
    • Self-oriented
    • Promotional
    • Authoritative
  7. Build a brand message and elevator pitch.
    • Who you are
    • What you offer
    • Why people should care
  8. Let your brand personality shine.
    • Telling stories about real experiences
  9. Intergrade your brand into every part of your business.
    • Visible and reflect in everything that you say/do
  10. Stay true to your brand building.
    • Consistency is key
  11. Be your brands biggest advocate.
    • No one knows your brand like you do, spread the word

Making a brand is not all that hard, once you think about it. Just follow these steps, stay true to you and your brand, and you’ll be on your way to having your own personal brand!

Zoe Chasse, Business Major IUPUC

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Net Neutrality

February 7, 2019 at 2:03 pm (communication, Social Media/Technology, Telecommuting)

Net neutrality is the constitution of the internet in America. The Obama administration passed legislation in 2015. Sadly, Net neutrality died a horrible and sudden death at the hands of Ajit Pai at the end of 2017. This appeal was one of the biggest controversies of 2017 amongst the American people.

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Without net neutrality, internet service providers can control content and service across the board. These providers can slow down internet service, charge extra fees, and even block content for other internet services. The bottom line for this appeal is monetary gain for a platform that was once free and accessible to anyone. Without open internet, information cannot be shared as easily among the North American population, which can cause people to be ignorant of political and social policies. Without net neutrality, how would we, the people, keep up with Donald Trump’s twitter account? We would have to pay extra or not see it at all if the providers decided to restrict access to Twitter.
Twenty-two state attorney’s general are asking to reinstate net neutrality rules. AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast are for the death of net neutrality, but other companies oppose the appeal. These other companies are Facebook, Amazon, and even Pornhub. When your porn preference involves themselves in politics, the stakes are obviously high.

So far, internet providers have not made the major changes that most Americans fear. These companies still have that power in their hands without regulations. Right now, it is a huge waiting game. Once another Democratic candidate is elected for the Oval office, net neutrality will more than likely be instated, once more. Until then, the American population can thrive on hopes and prayers that internet service providers keep the internet playground fair to all.

By
Kaylee Gaddie
IUPUC Psychology Major

 

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Do You Hear What I Hear???

September 27, 2018 at 10:09 am (Add Value to Business, Business Conflicts, Business Ethics, career, Coming Out LGBTQ, communication, Communication Problems, Conflict, Diversity in the Workplace, Effective Communication, frame of reference, Job Interviews, Listening skills, Motivation, Overseas Business Conflicts, Social Media in the workplace, Social Media/Technology, Telecommuting, Uncategorized, Working Well with Teams)
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woman wearing headphones standing beside man

Photo by Nicholas Githiri on Pexels.com

Listening to me and Hearing me are two different things. How well do you listen? According to PR Daily, less than two percent of the country’s population, have had formal education on how to listen. Did that not just blow your mind, because mine is flabbergasted. We communicate everyday with people from around the world, only to realize what we are saying to each other is only being heard, and not comprehended. I have three quick points on how we can enhance our communication skills, by simply improving our listening abilities.

  1. Pay Attention
  2. Open Your Mind
  3. Interact

These tips do not have to be completed in order, but it is much easier to understand the conversation if you do. Let’s break these tips down into a simpler form.

  • Paying attention is the key to any conversation. This allows the sender and receiver the opportunity to feel each other out. It is also needed to retain pertinent information.
  • Open your mind to all ideas whether you feel like they are good or bad. You never know what someone else can bring to the table, not to mention we all fall short of knowing everything, so always be willing to learn something new.
  • Both the sender and the receiver should interact with each other. By doing this the other knows if the message sent is clear. Interaction could be as simple as eye contact or a nod of the head. The point is you are letting the other know you get it!

I have found in relationships with others in my life, communicating effectively is so important. Not understanding what someone is trying to tell you after they have said it over and over and you have heard it over and over is beyond frustrating. That is why during the communicating process, we must openly listen to each other and pay attention to the details in the message so that we can respond to effectively. Considering there are so many cultures that make up our country, some ways of getting a message across will vary. These steps might not work for every situation, but they can assist with the process.

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SOCIAL MEDIA HELPING BUSINESSES

September 26, 2018 at 11:17 pm (Advertising, communication, Marketing, Social Media/Technology, Uncategorized)

Social media has a huge platform for our generation and it’s no surprise that businesses are getting its benefits from using social media as well.  By using social media, a business can promote the products that it provides or sells without having much work at all. The business whether it be big or small can have the opportunity to communicate better with its customers. Customers can give reviews and feedback on the business, allowing the business to know what to improve or sustain.

There are tons of social media tools and they can all have their advantages or disadvantages for businesses. Facebook is one of the most popular can help promote all services provided and get the news out to the people that are currently following you. The same can be said about Instagram and Twitter, those tools create a fast and easy way of showing what the company does. One tool that has become more popular recently is Yelp, especially for searching restaurants.

Yelp is a social media tool that is designed around review forums. It is generated for every type of business, anything from a doctor office to gyms. Yelp doesn’t require an account for the public to see the reviews or comments that others have left, but a commenter would need an account. Yelp gives the business a page to claim and allows a section for the description of what the business does and promotes services. This tool allows the businesses to upload the contact information, addresses, upload pictures, menus, hours of operation, and any crucial information that is needed for customers to notice the businesses.

A business can promote what services are on the page that it has claimed. by adding specific wording. If as a restaurant special is “dinner served all day”, Yelp and Google search are connected, and it opens the page for the searcher, giving more exposure. Reviews can be seen by the public and this can be an advantage or disadvantage to the business. The business can reply to the review by either thanking for the business or by telling the reviewer that you will take the comment into consideration. This will help the public to see what is good or bad about the business. Reading the comments This is important because it shows a potential customer of what other have liked or disliked, what needs improvement and what should be sustained. Yelp is a great social media tool for business any business.

By Tania Zamora, Business Major – IUPUC

 

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Fake News

February 20, 2018 at 6:16 pm (Listening skills, Social Media/Technology)

If any of you pay attention to politics in America at all, you have probably heard some mention of it. President Trump is very well known for making the claim “that is fake news” multiple times. But what really is fake news? How can we tell what fake news is? Today, I’m going to help you figure out what fake news is and where to go for unbiased news.

According to Wikipedia, the definition of fake news is “… a type of yellow journalism or propaganda that consists of deliberate misinformation or hoaxes…”. For those of you that don’t know exactly what “yellow journalism” is, it is journalism that has little to no research that uses attention grabbing headlines to sell copies. This means that they may make outrageous claims that may not be true just to sell copies. This is what fake news is.

Spotting fake news and recognizing it is getting more difficult these days. The website IFLA.org gives a very good guide of how we can do this. They say there are eight steps to identifying it. The steps, in no particular order, are to consider the source, check the author, check the date, check your biases, read beyond, see if there are any supporting sources, ask yourself if it could be a joke, and finally, ask an expert. By using these suggestions, you should be able to identify whether what you are seeing or hearing is fake news.

Unfortunately, I’m afraid there is not currently anywhere you can go for unbiased news. I have looked for quite some time for unbiased news, as I would also like to read some news that is unbiased. But after much searching, I’m not sure if there is any news site out there that does not have some bias in it.

By Clark Hauer, Business Major- IUPUC

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The Spoken Word

January 25, 2018 at 5:53 pm (communication, Social Media/Technology)

According to the Poetry Foundation, a spoken word performance is “a broad designation for poetry intended for performance,” (Spoken Word, n.d.). One of my favorite spoken word artists is Shane Koyczan. His piece ‘To This Day’ is one of his most popular. He speaks about bullying, depression, suicide, and many similar topics by using figurative language. His descriptions and comparisons are used to help his audience understand his point or topic. His performances and the many others similar to his help the speaker release any sort of emotion and on some occasions make a difference.

-Abigail Sabelhaus, Undecided Major/ IUPUC

Resource:

Spoken word. (n.d.). Retrieved January 25, 2018, from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/spoken-word

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Marketing with Video & How to Rise Above the Noise

October 26, 2017 at 8:00 am (Advertising, Marketing, Social Media/Technology, Uncategorized)
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Your average scroll through your social media feed will only confirm what we’ve known about the human species since… well, ever: visuals grab our attention. We know this so well that we sometimes have to remind ourselves not to fall for it (i.e. “don’t judge a book by its cover”). But with this natural pull in mind, it’s no surprise that video is increasingly becoming the go-to marketing method, particularly on social media.

So, how do you use video to your advantage? And how can you stand out from the crowd?

The truth is, you have to treat video content how you’d treat everything else (written content, photo content, etc.). It can be easy to only think of a video as a stand-alone piece of marketing – and complete videos with a full story (news stories, commercials, interviews, etc.) can be just that – but just like the right photo, passage, or tagline, video can also be implemented as part of a larger picture. For instance, many business websites have begun to implement video directly on their landing pages, either as background imagery or as featured sections of the site (think of testimonials). As a result, businesses are seeing better conversion rates, as well as other benefits. [For more ideas on how companies are using video, click here.]

I must admit, I purchased a piano keyboard precisely because of effective video (and I’m ashamed to say that I don’t use it often enough).

If you don’t have seven minutes to spare, I’ll sum up the content. A keyboard connoisseur, if you will, spends the entirety of the video discussing his collection, and eventually plays the Williams keyboard. Only around the 5:15 mark does the video actually address the product. It seems lengthy, but in reality the video creates a purposeful and strong build-up of credibility in the musician that leads to a trustworthy conclusion about the instrument. It’s a strong testimonial, and it does better to display the capabilities (and quality) of the instrument than any short demo could do.

Why did this work on me? Because it resonated. The video was of a high quality (which reflects back on the quality of the product), they knew their audience (customers who were unsure of the quality of the product for the price), and it was genuine. The musician’s delight of the quality of the instrument mirrored the company’s desire to share it with customers, and it made the purchase of the keyboard more of a buy-in to their passion for music as a whole.

Viewers want to know that you care about whatever product, idea, etc. you’re trying to sell them, and that needs to be evidenced by the production quality of your video content. Does your video need to be able to win a short film fest? No. Do viewers need to be able to clearly hear dialogue of an interviewee (for example) rather than a blaring backing track? I’d wager so. (Will I continue to use lots of questions? Probably. Please bear with me.)

Now that we know what makes video content worth watching, surely the next question is how to stand out when everyone will inevitably be pushing video content. Some experts suggest keeping up with trends and tailoring your message, but I personally wouldn’t focus on trends (especially if that feels untrue to your brand). Chasing trends can lead you astray from your brand – or at least lead to eye rolls (or worse) from the very audience you are trying to attract. (Surely a quick search can provide examples of Twitter hashtags gone wrong.)

The honest answer is that if it resonates, people will spread it. If a viewer takes the time to watch something and ends up feeling it wasn’t worth their time, they won’t be checking out the next one. However, quality content that is engaging and satisfying will lead to its spread. If viewers connect with it, they are likely to share it with friends. After all, what’s better: reaching a wide audience for a short time with one topical post, or building a reputation amongst friend groups, peer groups, communities, etc.?

Finally, in a world of click-bait, don’t be that guy (or girl). If you have quality content that stands alone, give it the headline/title/caption it deserves.

If any of this is starting to sound applicable to social media in general, that’s because it is. While video is rising in popularity and setting competitors apart from those who aren’t up to speed, the audience is the same. We’re still visual creatures. The same rules apply.

And we can still see through disingenuous crap.

 

By Amber Schadenfroh, Business Major – IUPUC

As a part-time student, Amber is aiming to graduate with dual concentrations in Marketing and Management. While most creative fields garner her interest, she most aspires to someday work in the film industry.

 

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Closing the Age Gap

October 4, 2017 at 8:48 pm (communication, Communication Problems, Comparison and contrast, Effective Communication, frame of reference, Social Media/Technology, Uncategorized)

If I had a dollar every time my grandparents asked me how to use Facebook, fix their phone, or even how to send a text with a picture attached, I’d be rich. In today’s society of ever-evolving technology, the baby boomers seem to have a much steeper learning curve than the millennials.

The communication style between these two generations is drastically different for many reasons. One of which being that the technology that is available today is very different than the technology that was available in the 1970s/1980s. Many millennials have grown up communicating through texts and snapchats instead of through outdated letters and phone calls. Baby boomers would not be able to figure out snapchat and can barely figure out how to text. Most of them would much rather call if they need to talk or reach someone. Although these two styles of communication are much different, the same idea is behind each form of communication and the same goal is achieved, just in a different way.

Another big difference between baby boomers and millennials is cell phone usage. Today, it is becoming more and more acceptable to carry a conversation through text, while also carrying a conversation in person. If you have ever tried to even send just one text while talking to a baby boomer, you most likely received a dirty look, or a snarky remark about your phone. To them, the act of even just checking your phone while carrying a casual conversation can come across as extremely disrespectful.

Even though at times the communication styles between these two age groups seems to be drastically different, the one thing we all have in common is all generations have a need for human interaction. No matter the form.

 

Emma Sanders

Psychology Major at IUPUC

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Google’s Image

September 28, 2017 at 5:26 pm (Add Value to Business, communication, Forbes, Internet Consensus, Social Media/Technology)
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Google’s Brand Image

 

Google’s brand image, they used in creating Google, was to figure out a way to display information that is easily accessible. Google put this brand image of simplicity and effectiveness into action when they built the Google search engine. The Google search engine finds important individual pages on the World Wide Web, and then links these important individual pages to the users.

Google represents its brand image through new design, as well as innovation of new methods of user interface. Google loves to use color to attract its user. From the bright blue carpet in the middle of its first headquarters, to the traditional red, yellow, and green logo, color and design are important to Google.

Communication through technology is Google’s way of penetrating the marketplace, and this has worked out very well for it. Google now employs more than 60,000 employees worldwide and is known for other products besides the Google search engine, such as Youtube and Android.

A business lesson that we can learn from Google, is that we should remain innovative and keep finding new ways to appeal to consumers through accessibility and effectiveness.

Sources:

https://www.google.com/intl/en/about/our-story/

https://design.google/library/evolving-google-identity/

By: Hugh Hamill, Business Administration Major- IUPUC

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Trump and Social Media

September 13, 2017 at 4:36 pm (Social Media/Technology)
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Social media is a great platform to get your voice heard, but you always have to be careful of your audience. It is easy to go and make posts without thinking about the possible repercussions that could follow your actions. Over the time president trump has become a political figure, I have been following his social media. I have always been a firm believer that there is a fine line with professionalism when it comes to social media and it goes without saying that some our presidents tweets from his personal twitter account have been more than questionable. Our presidents tweets have gone as far as to be a form of cyber bullying. He has called people various names such as; clown, dummy, phony, dopey, and even called senator Rand Paul a spoiled brat. Someone who represents our nation should act more professional than what our president has.

I feel as the president of the united states, your social media posts should be supportive and full of words and advice for your followers. Many of the tweets I have seen trump post have been rude and somewhat disrespectful in very unnecessary situations. If he has issues with other peoples views and actions they have made, there are more mature ways to hand the situations rather than bash on social media.

In the grand scheme of things I have noticed that as he has moved along with his presidency, his social media has seemed to move toward a more professional account and that gives me hope for better posts from our president.

By: Jordan Johnson, Business Major IUPUC

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