Stojan Krsteski ’18 LABB 2016-First, I would like to thank the Lilly Endowment, the CIBE, and Wabash College for making this opportunity possible. The LABB Program has been extremely helpful so far. I have enhanced my knowledge immensely through the readings and the activities we have done each day. I have also learned about what goes into starting up and operating a business, and what it takes to keep it going.
Week 3 has been a great learning experience. The main focus was learning about marketing. By looking at a business from a financial standpoint, marketing is one of the most important things that a business should focus on. It was impressing to learn that businesses allocate most of their money on marketing. Without marketing, would the consumer know about the product that is being sold by the business? As the days passed by during week 3, this became a rhetorical question.
We have also learned that marketing isn’t all about commercials and radio ads. There is a lot more that goes into it. Before a business would sell their product, they need to identify what goes into the marketing mix: the product or service, the place where this product would be set, promotions such as offers and discounts, and price of the product. Identifying the 4 P’s would maximize the business’ profits because they would be targeting specific markets. Therefore, a business needs to be very careful with how they promote their product to the public.
In addition to that, Dr. Sara Drury gave us a talk on how not to be “that guy”. She stressed how important it is to be always cautious of how we present ourselves to others, and also how important it is to always market our best selves in the workplace. Especially now with social media, it is really easy for employers to form ideas on how a potential employee might be just by looking up their name on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media.
