Checking In

How are everyone's plans going?

We're getting down to the last days and I'll admit that I'm struggling to find time to sit down and work on this plan. As I've said before, researching is easy for me but now I have to put it all together and finish out the plan. I hope to carve out some time in the next week to put the finishing touches on everything. Then I'll have to start working on the presentation...

Falling Into Place

It's been an exciting month with the company I'm writing for. They have finally moved into their warehouse where their offices will be located and where they will be storing their products. Up until now, they have been able to conduct business out of their respective houses, but the product is about to roll off the line and they need a place to store it.

The first product that they're releasing is the rooftop finial. It should be in any time in the next few weeks and I've been told that I can bring one in for the presentation if it arrives in time. While it will be a great visual aide, I'm going to feel like a dork dragging this huge finial through the school....maybe an outdoor presentation?!

I'm moving on to writing the third paper and I think it will be the hardest for me. The researching and brainstorming phase comes pretty naturally to me, but applying it all and making it cohesive isn't as easy.

Hope everyone's projects are coming along well!

Changes

After working hard and turning in the first draft of the paper this last week, I was given a very cool opportunity. My father-in-law (the business owner of the company) invited me to attend a meeting with the distributor. During this meeting I was treated to so much new information and got a good grasp on what kind of plans are in place right now.

After this meeting I realized that I'm going to have to go back and tweak the marketing plan some. Originally the company had decided to sell to architects, builders, homeowners, and distributing companies. After this meeting and realizing the potential and the amount of product needed to keep up with demand, the owners of the business have decided to go entirely with the distribution route. This made it easier for me to find one target market, but will change demographics and such. I'm glad to have it narrowed down, but this will mean more specific research for me and revising yet again!

If anything, this project has made me more excited about what's going on in the company and to share the excitement of my father-in-law.

Mission Statement

I have been working on the mission statement for my project. I lucked out because this business already had a pretty solid mission statement. Here is the original:

"to design, manufacture, and sell copper plated and colored plastic architectural element to the residential and commercial building industry."

In talking with Dr. Gray, decided there was no need for "residential and commercial" to be added to the building industry. Other than that, I have made no changes. Any suggestions you all can give about my mission statement?

Overview

This blog is designed to go along with my Marketing for the Entrepreneur class. This semester we are learning to write marketing plans for...you guessed it, the Entrepreneur.

The company I chose is co-owned by my father-in-law. I chose his business from personal interest and ease of communicating with the owners. What they have done is create an engineered resin that is injected with copper to replace copper sheeting and is often used for architectural elements. It is more durable than copper and is much cheaper.

Right now, they are rolling our their first products, which include finials, cupolas, fence post toppers, and guttering systems. (Click on the highlighted/underlined words for a Wikipedia definition of the products in general.) They have written a great business plan with the help of Jeri from RSU's Innovation Center, but they do not have a specific marketing plan. I hope to bring something new to the table and write a great plan for them.