Leslie Rascoe

I have noticed more and more advertisement and deals this holiday season, I believe my course in marketing taught me to look at businesses in a different way and notice the steps they are taking to make profits. I truly believe that without marketing, businesses would not succeed like they can today. Many places that are not changing their marketing strategies don't have advantages like those that make a point to continue their marketing. Bath and body works has started their 12 days of Christmas deals and this strategy has excited their customers enough to want to shop their numerous days leading up to Christmas. Personally, I think their marketing strategies have a lot to do with the profit they receive and as long as they keep it up, they will continue to grow tremendously.

The power of sales and how sales get out to people is amazing, over the thanksgiving break I looked at a lot of sales papers and emails that stores were sending out to people and I couldn't believe what great deals were offered. Many people hate to go Black Friday shopping, but it is almost impossible to not take advantage of the sales. I purchased a TV on Black Friday and saved over $300 dollars, it was an offer I couldn't pass up. I have also noticed that stores have such great outcomes on sales from Black Friday and Cyber Monday they are continuing the great deals throughout the week into the weekend. It's amazing how fast the word travels through the internet and how quickly people find out about theses deals. I have been wondering if stores kept these great deals all throughout the year would sales increase enough to make up for the prices being lower? I feel that people will spend more money and shop more often if the deals they find stay great and if customer's f...

While visiting an outdoor mall this weekend, I went to many stores to see what sales they have going on. I went into the Apple store and you can tell they are super busy but they are the one store that has absolutely no signs or sales being advertised.  It made me wonder why they do not need to advertise what sales they offer, but they are still receiving many customers. Also, as you walk by most other stores have added signs and more advertising to promote sales, there are so many people out during this time of the season which obviously adds many sales to popular stores. Most of the stores I visited had more employees working and as soon as you walked in they told you what sales were going on and offered to help you find what you are looking for. Would sales stay higher if stores stayed in 'Christmas mode' all year round?

How much more business do small businesses receive when they use social media as added advertisement? This week I spoke to the owner of a small business and while we were discussing all of her ways of advertisement, she stated that before she created social media pages for her business she felt like more people came to her store. She said this was the one thing she was worried about because she thought social media would bring a lot more business in. I think with more information becoming available to people online, they are more likely to not come in to the store because they already know what the business carries. This topic had me wondering, maybe if we changed the way we advertise online it would benefit and bring in more sales. I suggested that instead of posting pictures of all the new items she has to offer, she could try only posting one item and simply advertise that everyone needs to come in and check out her new items. This way, people are curious as to what they have and en...

Recently I have started comparing prices in local stores that I shop in, it amazes me at how many deals you can get from just looking around to see what other stores offer. Walmart was mainly  guaranteed to have the best prices on popular items that people are in the market for, but other stores that aren't as well known had better prices on certain groceries. I changed the supermarket I get groceries from and saved $120, instead of going to Walmart I went to the local market and got everything I would have gotten at Walmart but for better prices. Most of the time when I go to Walmart I get busy looking at other items placed on end-caps and on displays and I find myself getting stuff I didn't even put on my list. Walmart may have competitive prices but the store set-up alone will make you spend double what I spend on just groceries. I have noticed that the prices at local grocery stores are close or even a little less than their competitors and most of the time they have sales ...

After taking a look at the different factors to take into consideration when choosing a location, I saw a way I could pick somewhere to open a business in the city I live in. I noticed there are many places for lease in a couple shopping malls in the busiest area on the highway but the way they were placed made them very hard to see when driving by. One of the bigger strip malls had only 2 people renting for small businesses and the other 6 were vacant. The strip is located right off the interstate but the parking lot is so large it's almost hidden, the lighting is also very dim, and it's located next to a mechanic shop that is very run down. This could possibly effect sales and how often they receive customers. I don't think the location will get many businesses to open here because of how it was built, the strip mall has been there for about 6 years and still doesn't have many occupants. I wouldn't choose to open my first business here simply because of the locati...

Dollar Tree is obviously known for their low prices, they use the penetration strategy to keep their prices the lowest on the market. I believe their extremely low prices does help their business because it simplifies shopping and is open for the people that don't have as much money to buy high end items. Dollar Tree is not necessarily the leader in their line of business but they are close to similar stores like Dollar General or Family Dollar. Dollar General loses some of their business to Walmart or discount stores because they can find better sales and deals on the products for sale. Depending on what you are shopping for Dollar General might be the better option, but when it comes to items such as toys, coloring books, or sidewalk chalk you might choose to go to Dollar Tree because you can get more for your money. I have found that Dollar Tree has very dependable dishes like bowls, plates, and mugs. Dollar Tree has much better business because of their pricing strategy and the...

While watching football on the weekend, have you noticed that a lot of celebrities are shown to catch your attention and make you interested in the product they are selling? My favorite television show is Grey's Anatomy, while watching the first episode of the new season, there was a commercial advertising Cigna which is encouraging people to go see a doctor and "know" your health. I normally, wouldn't pay attention to any of the commercials, but I noticed that two characters from the TV show were acting and it caught my attention. Also, I have seen many commercials that show Beyonce advertising Pepsi, I believe that this commercial catches Beyonce fans and atleast gets people to watch what they are advertising which can lead up to an increase in sales. Putting popular faces on things you want to advertise is most likely the best way to catch someones eye. This also comes with a price, Beyonce signed a $50 million dollar contract with Pepsi to advertise their products...

The most annoying thing to me during shopping is when I have picked everything that I want from a store and I get to the counter and the cashier tries to lure me into buying a bottle of nail polish or a tube of lip-gloss. There are so many different items and most of them aren't necessary for anyone. From the store's standpoint, I understand why, the items are things you need to sell more of and items that aren't looked at if you put them on shelves. If I were a store owner, instead of putting them at the counter, I would place them on a nice display in the front of the store, by the door, so that people notice it when they come in and maybe while they are shopping they will decide to pick something up. Some places do have counter items that will cause people to make an impulse purchase, these are places like Winn-Dixie or gas stations where they really only put single drinks and candy. I think people that go into the store with their children will almost always make a pur...

Experience. I recently (6 days ago) got married, where I decided and planned out every aspect of the wedding myself. I hired a few different individual vendors to cater and do the DJ services for our wedding. I am going into business because I want to open my own business so I wanted to hire individuals to see how they work and how I could learn from the experience. The catering business was a small family owned social media startup, I knew the sisters personally and wanted to give it a shot. To me it was a terrible experience but I learned a lot from it, I initially contacted the vendor and set up all services and gave her the date, time, and exact services I needed performed. Then again the week before I set up appointment and spoke with her about the same thing again and confirmed the amount she was asking for. Last, on the night of our wedding, and about 3 hours into their 'shift' she came up to me while we were in the middle of the reception and told me 'bye' tha...

I am a FIRM believer in the saying "the customer is always right." With a couple of exceptions..... As a teenager, I worked at Full Moon BBQ in my hometown. It was a great job with even better customers on most days. Except for the customers that tried to find loopholes and take advantage of the company. For instance if someone ordered a family meal of ribs or pork and ate all or most of the meal and then called back to state that the food was cold and they demand a refund. The policy was that if you brought the food back and gave it to the manager he would throw it away and refund you. No food meant no refund. A lot of people would order the food and then call back to complain several hours later, how do we know the food was cold when you received it if hours had already passed? Most of the unhappy customers would say that if no refund was received that we would lose their business and they would also tell all of their family and friends to not choose to do business at Full ...

My dream business has always been to open a Salon&Spa. I have a file on my computer that is also saved onto a flash drive, with all of the ideas I have or see in everyday life. I take notes and research places to use when opening businesses and place the URL or thoughts into this file. I hope that when I am ready to open my salon this file will help me startup my business. I would like to create a business plan along with all the information I have obtained. When I go to any kind of salon myself I take a look at the products they use and how everything is set up. Once I get free time I look everything up online and start deciding what would be best for the pictures I have in my mind. Keeping this file obviously won't start the salon for me and I won't use everything I look into, I just think it's a great way to get creative ideas flowing and start getting my foot into the door so once I am ready I don't start with a blank slate. Also, my documents are saved as a way...

The downtown area of my city has started building many lofts, and renovating the lofts that were already there, transforming them into beautiful and convenient places to live in. Many business can take advantage of the fact that many people are migrating towards this area. It's convenient and makes commuting to work and school a lot easier. In my downtown area, there is many hospitals, a college campus, restaurants, and easy accessible businesses. The area is much busier than surrounding towns, making it easier for businesses to draw in people that pass by. Personally, if I owned a business in this area I would make advertising a main concern because people see sales and promotions to take advantage of when they are passing by on a regular basis. I believe a coffee shop would be a perfect idea for a corner business downtown. People love the idea of a small family owned business and if you find the right location, you can bring in a lot more customers. A lot of the students that...

             Recently, at our local promenade shopping center we had two very successful retail clothing stores close. They were larger businesses that were trying to cut out the stores not bringing in enough profit. Every time I pass the empty stores, I can't help but think about what a perfect location it would be for my dream business. I plan to open a Salon & Spa and both of the stores available are exactly what I have in mind when I think about my business in the future.               The promenade is a very busy, outdoor shopping mall with various clothing and shoe stores. I feel like the promenade doesn't have enough distinctive types of business and this may be costing some places revenue. In our city, there isn't many hair salons and we only have one tanning salon that has been close to closing for years. The location brings in a lot of business because there is a Target, Claire's, Urgent Care, and Shoe...