Week 9 Reading Reflection

Marketing Challenges for Entrepreneurial Ventures

1)      What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

a.       I had always wondered how sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter made money. Facebook was more explanatory, because of all the ads that show up as you scroll down your page. Also, you can add or like company/brand pages. I’m sure brands and companies would pay Facebook a certain amount of money to get advertising out on social media. I had no idea there was a freemium model. I thought the freemium model concept was pretty interesting. This makes perfect sense for LinkedIn and certain newspapers.

2)      Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

a.       One thing that confused me was the affiliate model and the advertising model. They seem similar. I feel like Facebook fits both models. Which model do they use? 

3)      If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

a.       What is the best method for sales forecasting? Is there an efficient formula involved? I know that there are variations for sales forecasting. Except, there has to be some start point besides historic evidence.

b.      What is an example of Proctor and Gambles Guerilla Marketing Plan? I understand the steps for a good plan. However, how is it executed? I was hoping to see the finished plan. Guerilla Marketing is supposed to be low cost. What did Proctor and Gamble do for all of their products?

4)      Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

a.       There was nothing that I came across in this chapter where I disagree with the author. However, I really enjoyed the tables. They were very descriptive and explanatory. The ‘changing priorities and purchases in the family life cycle’ was a perfect fit. I couldn’t agree more with the statements in the tables.