First things first, it's only my second week here and I had to be at the office at 7:30AM! Insanity! We, the Grassroots team, hosted a seminar on website design and search engine marketing at Pellissippi State Community College, so we had to be there early to set everything up.  During the seminar I was surprised to hear some of the questions that were being asked. I assumed (probably because I knew) that everyone knew what ROI, return on investment, and SEM, search engine marketing, stood for, so when people were asking what they meant I was shocked. These questions made me realize that anytime you are speaking to an audience you cannot just assume that they know exactly what you are talking about. I know that my college professors have told me that before, but to be honest I just thought they were making me explain everything to make sure that I understood the material, not because the target audience did not understand what I was talking about. This situation showed me that I definitely have a lot to learn if I want to continue to work in the business world. As for the other projects that I have going on at Grassroots, I am still focusing on narrowing down the best techniques for search engine optimization, as well as researching products and services that Grassroots can offer as a marketing retail store. Research is what I am passionate about so when Fred gave me this assignment I was in heaven! Being able to work on projects that I enjoy has made this experience that much better. So far I have not disliked anything that I have been assigned. I am starting to actually be able to explain SEO to clients (and to Fred) which makes me feel like I am contributing to the company. It's great not to feel just like "the intern" but to feel like I kind of know what I am doing. I still have a lot to learn and I am by no means saying that I know everything there is to know about SEO and the marketing profession, but I do know a little something now.

Two weeks down...seven more to go, so far so good!

Having never interned before, I was unsure of what to expect here at Grassroots but I knew that I was excited to have the opportunity to gain some real work experience before I graduate in December. When I started last week I assumed that I would be doing random assignments that interns normally do, boy was I wrong. I am actually helping work on accounts and doing research for new services that Grassroots can offer! Currently I am researching and helping develop Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques to better improve Grassroots Interactive division. This is definitely a learning experience for me because before last week I knew relatively nothing about SEO and now I am analyzing data that most people have no clue how to do! I feel like an influential part of this company and I have only been here a week! It's a great feeling to have but at the same time it's nerve-racking having to make decisions that involve receiving more than just a grade. Everyday I learn something new and I can't wait to see what else is in store for me this summer.

One week down...eight more to go, let's see if I can make it.

I really had to sit down and write about the marketing seminars that we have been giving for about a year and a half now. You see, we partnered up with our good buddy Larry Rossini at the Small Business Development Center last year to put on a series of what we call “Marketing Bootcamps”. These things are about 3 hours long and run the gamut from Marketing 101 to website design and development to social media to how to close a sale. The whole gang here at GRM puts a huge amount of work into these things…and we always get so much more out of them than what we put in.

The last one was just a couple of days ago and we had so many folks show up that we had to quickly create an overflow room! Luckily, we were planning on streaming the entire seminar through our website. Check it out if you haven’t already, it’s still there. Before you know it we had a packed main room and about 10 to 15 folks in the overflow room watching on a big screen. To look out at the audience and see people generally interested in being there and hearing what you have to say…I gotta say it’s a big rush. The questions they ask, the points they make that even we haven’t considered…trust me it’s definitely a two-way learning session. And then at the end of the 3 hours they still want to stick around and visit with all of us, well, we’ve never had so much fun!

I personally want to thank the SBDC, the Small Business Administration and most of all…the small business people that attend our seminars. You serve as a reminder of why GrassRoots Marketing was founded 5 years ago…to be dedicated to and focused on being marketers for small businesses. Thanks! And we’re all looking forward to our next Bootcamp on website design and development later this year.

GK? Hey GK!

So they tell me, "Greg, you gotta blog because its what all the cool kids are doing!".  I know that everyone is thinking that just because we are a web development and marketing company that we should have this built in as second nature.  Well there are a few on our team that were born for the social media lifestyle, and others like myself who get caught up in their own little world and forget to keep everyone informed around them as to what is going on.  Now what? The digital white space can be so intimidating, I cant pretend for it to be an easy process once a week to do this.  However, I will assign it as a challenge and carry forward!

As a topic for my first blog, i thought about hitting on a couple observations of late in the design world. I have begun to notice a trend toward simplicity and a more small business look and feel in advertising and design.  Just watching commercials on television, or ads in your local paper for national companies or corporations can show thats is an almost universal trend.  What has surprised me the most is the unapologetic way they present themselves.  Our economy has begun to change the face of advertising to allow people to accept that ads don't have to be slick and as whitty, and that its more appropriate to appear to be money-crunched that even your ads are financially starved and strained.  I hesitate to say whether thats good or bad marketing, however I believe its important to know where the current trends are.  The "Matrix" or "Titanic" movie style productions are not as glamorous as they once were, so whats our opportunity Mr. Small Business owner?   I believe its your turn, to find your marketing foot print in the world of advertising, because big business is wanting to look like small business  and it enables us compete with them once again! I believe the general public has now been trained to accept simple statements and basic imagery to "fill in the blanks" of what used to take major budgets and production costs to produce.

I will end with this statement:  If you focus more on who you are as a business, rather than the illusion of what major business you can be portrayed as, then your marketing plan will be more effective and readily accepted.  And guess what? You didnt have to break up your budget....phew!!!