LITRENTA, MORGAN

morganlitrenta@gmail.com

CAPSTONE 2015-2016

Marketing in Businesses

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Marketing is one of the most important part of a company, without marketing
businesses would be unable to properly convey what the purpose of the business is.
Marketing is the technique of advertising and promoting any type of service or item.
There are many different branches of Marketing; advertising, public relation, and
media and digital marketers are all incorporated under marketing. Within those
different marketing jobs, there are different positions and levels in each branch. A
growing concern is how some jobs are becoming replaced by machines, while
marketing will never be able to be replaced by technology. Each type of business has
different strategies for marketing which would be more or less affective compared to
others. There are also different techniques depending on what the type of service or
device is trying to be emphasized and sold. Most of the larger companies have a
specialized marketing team, and possibly multiple different ones who work on
different types of marketing. Donckers writes a whole article going into depth about
why one should have a specialized marketing team for businesses. Dockers says that
despite how skilled the normal company workers are, they are not trained in
marketing, leaving opportunities for mistakes. He also says that even small
businesses, who cannot justify hiring a marketing team every month, can hire
experience individuals who can help with doing a campaign that is more substantial
for their size. This shows that not only companies themselves have marketing teams,
but there are whole separate businesses who send individual workers to set up a
project for the business. This shows that there is no excuse for not having any proper
marketing techniques or having a whole team dedicated to actually producing the
campaigns. The Bizfillings group wrote about how successful marketing decides

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whether a business will also be successful. They say, Highly effective marketing is a
make-or-break necessity for most small businesses. It's really impossible for you to
be successful without good marketing and sales techniquesthat's what brings the
dollars in the door then you have to reach them with that message. Bizfillings even
goes into more detain and gives steps when marketing. This shows the significance
and effort put into marketing team. The fact that many believe marketing can make or
break a company is nearly mind-shattering.
Research methodologies are very important. In order to gauge the results of
the marketing techniques that are going to be set in place, there needs to be a proper
way to measure the results. Without being able to measure the results, there is no
way to decide which marketing techniques would be beneficial and which ones would
not be beneficial. There are multiple ways to determine results from projects.
Recently, with the large focus surrounding social media and how many followers
companies have, that is how they determine results. Another way to judge results
would be to check the overall net income. If the company revenue increased, then
that also shows how a marketing project might have positively affected the business.
Just as there can be positive results, there can be a loss in followers or revenue. This
also shows on how businesses can negatively be affected. Losing too much
popularity and revenue can result in serious consequences. Depending on the
marketing techniques set in place, even interviews and questionnaires can be used to
determine the outcome of a campaign. Considering if the marketing campaign is just
to raise awareness of a certain item or service, then questionnaires would be perfect.
One would be able to set up at least two interviews or questionnaires, one before the

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marketing project and one after. It has become even easier to do such research
gathering because of the internet. The searches can be broadened, especially if the
company wants to expand their knowledge around the state, county, or world.
There are many different types of marketing. As mentioned before, each type
of company has their own marketing techniques that are the most beneficial. With the
growing influence of the internet, social media marketing has become widespread.
Companies who lack in the social media department, usually do not gain very much
revenue. There are many reasons behind having so many different marketing
techniques. One of them being the product or service that is being provided. The
techniques can also change due to the size and type of company. The type of
company being such as an international based or depending on the target they want
to focus on. Determining the focus group, also known as a target audience, is one of
the very first, and most important stages when planning a marketing project. Without
having a determined target audience to hone in on, there is no way to properly appeal
to them and sway them to a company. A few different types
Green Plate Foods is a very small Houston-based company that sells healthy
snacks for both children and adults. Green Plate Foods is often referred to as GPF;
GPF was founded early in the year of 2010 by Lisa Pounds. Before that, she had
been working in New York as an insurance broker for thirteen years. Pounds views
marketing as something that is an essential if one is selling a product. According to
Pounds, she mainly uses social media and wide-ranged events, such as demos,
conventions, and sampling at store locations. The reason behind having a large
emphasis on social media and in-person interactions is to involve and interact with

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actual consumers. Pounds also believes in spending a long amount of time on
building brand, and keeping constant exposure for her company. Green Plate Foods
uses a program called Infusion Soft, as mentioned above. Infusion Soft is a program
that does many different things; Infusion Soft is an online program software that is
able to send out broadcast emails, manage purchases and invoices for consumers,
contain thousands of contact information, and most importantly, view the exact
numbers subscribed to the email newsletter. Infusion Soft is how data is collected
after marketing projects in order to determine results for GPF.
Megan Blaisdell is a graduate from Baylor University who currently works in a
specialized marketing team as mentioned in the introduction. She first had an
internship at DMN3, a company focusing on outsourcing their marketing to various
companies. Blaisdell currently has changed her job to work in a specialized marketing
team at Lex Mundi. This shows that she has many different experiences in marketing
and with all kinds of people.
Khan was able to interview some very important experts, many of them being
founders and CEOs of many companies. He asked a very simple yet complicated
question: Whats the #1 thing that retailers can do better market their brick-andmortar store?" Khan was able to collect ten different answers from each of the
interviewees. Many of the answers seem very simple and easy to do, but many
people end up dismissing such simple suggestions. One of the most significant
advice given was to Connect the Online with Offline from Jason Goldberg, who
founded his own company and works at multiple different places. Goldberg said, To
cater to these empowered shoppers and to facilitate unplanned purchases, it's critical

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that retail environments provide access to rich product information, and especially
provide social proof for in-store purchases, such as making online reviews available
in the store. At first glance, this phrase can seem slightly confusing and cryptic. In
simplest terms, Goldberg is trying to explain that the online shopping should be
similar, if not the same, in concept. There should be a proper item name, description,
and even reviews all along the website. The purpose of adding these items provides a
sense of security and truthfulness. Website stores who lack such items, usually lack
in revenue or positive reviews. Another piece of important advice by James Bickers,
who is an expert in retail customer experience, who suggested, to Be Locally
Relevant. Being known around the area in which a business resides is one of the
most important aspects; there can be no consumers if the business is unknown to the
community. Therefore, in order to have a successful business one needs to market
around the area in which the business is operated. The last piece of information that
is likely to be the most beneficial would be from Denise Lee Yohn. She said, Sweat
the small stuff design your customer experiences to bring your brand to life in the
finest of details and deliver on them with excellence to express your brand in every
customer interaction. The term Sweat the Small Stuff can seem slightly misleading,
for the aspect one might view it in. Originally, one might view it as double-checking
the books for errors in various different forms. What Yohn actually is trying to explain
is to spend more time working on the aesthetic and customer service aspects of the
business.
Howards also did some research on the actual statics that affected
businesses. Some businesses prefer not to disclose the exact statistical information

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about the actual project results, apart from the investors and high-ranking officials.
The main reason behind that is confidentiality; confidentiality is important in business
because it leaves a window for the unpredictable. He said that, 78% of small
businesses attract customers through social media. This shows the large affect that
technology and social media has played not only in society, but in deciding where to
purchase some sort of item or service.
Overall, marketing is very significant for all types of businesses. There are
nearly no companies who can be successful without doing any or little marketing. Not
only are there multiple examples and instances of experts confirming and proving that
marketing is a benefit. Marketing is so influential to business that many corporations
have their own special teams dedicated to marketing, and sometimes even different
types of marketing.
Morgan Litrenta has been interning at Green Plate Foods since August, 2015.
The internship is set to last until May, 2016. During college, Litrenta is planning on
majoring in either Communication or Business; there is also consideration going into
whether to obtain a double major. Obtaining a degree in communication or business
makes one applicable for jobs in marketing, public relations, and much more. Since
the company is so small, having a total staff around ten, the emphasis on marketing is
more intense than other companies. The reason that Litrenta decided to do a
capstone project all about marketing is because she was very inspired and influenced
by people around her who work in the marketing field and how much change
marketing can make. Marketing can make a small company into a widely known
company through various different means. Currently, there is a team of University of

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Houston college students who actively work on Green Plate Foods marketing tactics.
The team has generously allowed for Litrenta to be involved throughout every step
during the marketing plans. From ideas, to planning, and executing the events,
Litrenta is being allowed to participate in all of them. Gaining experience on how to go
through the steps of marketing is very beneficial. During her capstone project, Litrenta
will be participating in various different aspects of marketing projects. She will be
involved in all of the ideas, planning, and execution for various different marketing
projects for the next year. To measure the results, Litrenta will be gathering statistical
information from the Infusion Soft program that is used to broadcast and measure
results from emails sent to consumers. Litrenta has already been introduced and So
far in the planning meetings, there have been some ideas on marketing projects.
Some of them will be similar in concept, most revolving around social media and
bloggers. Litrenta has already done a few projects, such as reaching out to different
larger bloggers for review in a post. She has also set out ten to twelve sample
packages to potential buyers. One of the projects will be a snapchat propaganda.
During the actual execution of this project, Litrenta will be involved in setting up the
whole account for Green Plate Foods. She will also be going on campus at University
of Houston at the Central Campus in order to promote the snapchat media to the
college students. The purpose of conducting this product at a college is to make the
healthy snacks more accessible and popular with students. Becoming more popular
with college students can majorly boost revenue. It also helps spread knowledge and
information about the products that are being sold. Even if the college students
themselves end up not purchasing any product, they can convey their interest to their

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friends and family. The whole purpose of this capstone is to inform future employers
about all of the extensive research and experience Morgan Litrenta has gained from
her internship. Already, Litrenta has gained so much experience from her internship.
Before having her internship, Litrenta never had any sort of job, apart from
volunteering and helping her mother with simple office and technology tasks.
Therefore, having an internship itself provides a wonderful background and
experience in marketing.

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Annotated Works Cited
BizzFillings. "Business Success Depends Upon Successful Marketing." Business
Success Depends Upon Successful Marketing. BizFillings, 24 May 2012. Web. 19
Nov. 2015. A marketing team says that just advertising a product is not enough.
There are more processes to be followed and focused on, such as researching
and planning your projects to encompass all different types of people who fall
under different branches.
"Capstone Interview." E-mail interview. 1 Dec. 2015. Litrenta asked Megan Blaisdell,
an expert in marketing for nearly 7 years, about marketing and what she does on
a regular basis.
Donckers, Rudi. "Why Don't You Hire Me? Marketing Specialist." The Reason Why
Every Business Needs a Real Marketing Specialist. Marketing Specialist, 17 Nov.
2015. Web. 17 Nov. 2015. Donckers talks about how each business needs a
specialized marketing team, instead of just using their current team members, who
are not trained in dealing with marketing.
Howard, Dolly. "26 Stats That Prove Content Marketing Increases Lead Generation, Sales, and
ROI." 26 Stats That Prove Content Marketing Increases Lead Generation, Sales, and ROI.
Smart Bug Media, 18 June 2014. Web. 18 Nov. 2015. Howard gathers different 26 sources
from businesses showing how marketing affected their business and which type of
marketing they used to improve their company.

Khan, Humaya. "10 Retail Experts Share Their #1 Tip for Marketing and Growing Your
Store Shopify." Shopify's Ecommerce Blog. Shopify, 2014. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

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Khan collects the top 10 marketing tips from successful business leaders and
CEO's, whose ideas boosted their company's popularity.
Newman, Daniel. "Customer Experience Is The Future Of Marketing." Forbes. Forbes
Magazine, 13 Oct. 2015. Web. 23 Nov. 2015. Shows Newman's experiences with
different marketing and how to work with customers in today's time. That means that
the customers demand is different than how it used to be, and he shows to manage
it.
Pounds, Lisa. "Capstone Interview." E-mail interview. 3 Dec. 2015. Litrenta asked
various questions to CEO and founder of Green Plate Foods, Lisa pounds about
her business, her opinions surrounding marketing, and different marketing
techniques.