Writing Samples

Starting and running a business is a daunting task. Becoming an entrepreneur takes a lot of patience and dedication. While there are a multitude of ways to run a business, these ten tips will help your business become a booming success, no matter what path you take. 

Once you have an idea, it can be easy to want to rush into taking the steps to make it a business. However, it's important to create as detailed of a plan as possible before moving on to any other steps. Your plan should clearly state your mission, create measurable goals, and set deadlines for each milestone along the way. 

Most likely, you will be the biggest ambassador of your business. The more people you connect with early on, the more connections and supporters you will have as your business grows. Word-of-mouth is one of the most powerful marketing tools and it is never too early to start spreading your business ideas.

Budgeting is a must in running a successful business. It's important to always have money set aside for any unexpected problems that are sure to arise. To be safe, you should overestimate your costs, and underestimate your revenue. It's also crucial to keep track of your numbers such as your cash flow, profits and loss, net income and sales. 

It will be inevitable that you will run into some problems, both big and small, along the way. While it is hard to stay positive after facing rejections, it's important to use each negative encounter as a learning opportunity. 

One way of being able to understand your target market, is to closely monitor the results of everything you do. You will learn about by testing your ideas first, measuring their results, and being able to compare them to other tests. While the results may not always end up being what you'd expect, you can continue confidently knowing you have data to back up your reasoning for future actions. 

You'd be surprised at the reasons your business isn't performing how you expect it to. Understanding your market is extremely important in being able to reach them, communicate with them, and ultimately to get them to make a sale.  

No matter how many times you hear no, or hit a bump in the road, it's crucial to keep persisting in order to be successful. Your original business plan will likely undergo a lot of revisions before it's the perfect recipe for a successful business.

While family and friends can offer great support, it's also important to surround yourself with people who are unbiased, but share the same passion you do. Build a team of intelligent, talented, and motivated people who share your vision. 

No matter how motivated and dedicated you are, your business will not become a booming success overnight. You will need to stay patient and not get too frustrated when things do not go as quickly planned.

While running a business takes a lot of personal time and effort, do not let it consume your whole life. It's important to dedicate time to work and time to your personal life, without letting the two mix together too much. 

Print #1 for Duct Tape Campaign

Headline: Do It with Duck Tape

Subhead: I do Halloween with Duck Tape

Illustration/Visual: Group of a few mothers and fathers in 20s or 30s with their kids ages 3-5. One kid, a girl, is dressed as a pirate with a red striped shirt made from a white shirt with red Duck Tape, another girl is dressed as a cheetah with ears made from cheetah-print Duck Tape and a third, a boy, has a bag to carry candy in made from M&Ms patterned Duck Tape.

Body Copy: Get all your costumes in just one aisle. With so many different patterns, you can have a DIY costume in no time. 

Mandatories: campaign theme line/tagline, website address (www.duckbrand.com)

Print #2 for Duct Tape Campaign

Headline: Do It with Duck Tape

Subhead: I do school with Duck Tape

Illustration/Visual: A college-aged girl by boxes taped shut with Ohio State Duck Tape along with a middle school aged boy and younger girl with binders decorated with different patterned Duck Tape. Their mother stands behind them. 

Body Copy: Instantly pack for college, individualize your supplies, and customize your backpack with Duck Tape.

Mandatories: campaign themeline/tagline, website address (www.duckbrand.com)

Print #3 for Duct Tape Campaign

Headline: Do it with Duck Tape

Subhead: I do adventure with Duck Tape

Illustration/Visual: A pair of hikers taking a break on a mountain. One is fixing the sole of their boot and both have a different color/patterned tape to identify which water bottle is whose. 

Body Copy: Because soles fall apart and water bottles get mistaken. 

Mandatories: campaign themeline/tagline, website address (www.duckbrand.com)

First National Bank

First National Bank is launching a new credit card aimed at millennials. Following is my plan for an advertising campaign to introduce the credit card and gain interest of the younger generation and their parents. For this campaign I would use sales promotion, in-branch marketing, advertising, social media and mobile as tools. 

For sales promotion, I would offer a free merchandise item, such as a key chain, pen, etc., when you sign up for the credit card. Since this is commonly done, I would also offer a deal where when you sign up you get an Amazon gift card or coupon with the intentions of students being able to spend it on books. I might also offer a deal where if you open a card within a certain amount of time your first month’s payment is pushed back a month, or something similar to help ease millennials into being responsible for a credit card for probably the first time. Also, to incorporate parents, I would have a promotion where if you signed up for a credit card and also got one for your child there would be some sort of incentive similar to the one just mentioned. 

For in-branch marketing I would post information about the credit card in the bank but also around the ATMs, as most millennials would most likely use the ATM more than actually going inside the branch. I would also have a day a month or maybe every week where there was a special consultant answering questions and helping people to open this particular credit card since for many people of this age group it would be their first time doing such a thing but they are also reaching an age where they might not need, want, or find it appropriate for their parents to accompany them or if they are away at school it may not be possible for their parents to accompany them. 

For advertising I would create a campaign targeted at students. Specifically, I would have billboards in heavily student populated areas such as University City in Philadelphia. I thought of making a slogan relating the card to school- something like “You earn credit at school, now spend it”. I feel like this would encourage the people of this age group to feel that they deserve this for the hard work they put in at school. I would also include it in regular advertising for the bank so that parents could sign up with their teens and perhaps get a special deal. I would also use television advertisements featuring a celebrity child and parent such as Will and Jaden Smith. 

For social media I would create a Twitter and Facebook page for the bank itself. On these pages I would post advertisements and also articles and tips on budgeting and handling money.  I wouldn’t want to post just advertisements because that would not maintain interest. I would also post information about the banks college program to attract college students who are looking for internships and job opportunities. 

For mobile I would make an app specific for that credit card that would accomplish ultimately the same things as the app the bank has available now. With this app I would give parents the option to also be able to access information on their child’s account if the child had allowed it. The app would also allow users to check balances, locate branches and ATMs, access account information, and deposit checks. 

I think all of these tools in combination would help draw attention from both the millennials and their parents, who because of the age of this target group, I feel is another essential target for the campaign. Sales promotions and in-branch marketing may be more attractive to parents while social media and mobile features may be more of a draw for the millennials. The advertisements would hopefully target both. Therefore, I would say that advertising is the most important, followed by mobile, sales promotions, in-branch marketing, and finally social media. I think mobile is important because of this generations importance placed on being able to be on-the-go and access almost anything anywhere. Sales promotions are important because both students and millennials and their parents are always looking to get a deal and get the most out of their time and money. In-branch marketing isn’t as high of a priority because only those who came to the bank would see it and because of how much is able to do be done online now, it is not as common for people to be out and about as much. Finally, I feel social media would be hard to make popular because there a few ways a bank could appear fun and “re-tweetable” but instead is a little too serious to gain much attention on social media. 

I think, although my campaign has multiple aspects, that it would not be too hard to carry out. I think the main idea of students and their parents coming together to take this next step into adulthood and independence would be apparent and would entice both target audiences. 

Some internal marketing issues are that banks are not normally targeting this age group. Therefore, the usual group of advertisers and marketers within the company may not know how to properly target millennials. Most people working in a bank are more focused on strictly numbers and business which isn’t what high school and college students are necessarily into or even fully understand yet.