Andrew Buttrey

 In chapter 4 entitled Developing a Guerilla Marketing Plan, the author talks about the need for a core story to show current and potential customers how your product solves a real life problem.  He then goes onto list 2 important guerrilla marketing keys to success which are start with a plan and commit to the plan.  Throughout the entire chapter there is an emphasis on commitment to the plan.   When planning a guerrilla marketing campaign it is important to consider positioning otherwise known as the companies niche, what the company stands for, and how it is perceived by the customer.  During the planning phase it is also important to know what your competitors are doing, current and projected economic trends, and the needs of the companies target market.   Lastly, the author presents us with the 7 sentence guerrilla marketing strategy which is as follows: 1. Purpose of the marketing?  Is this a purchase, a website visit, or a call? 2. How...

 After reading through Dr. Kelsey's article titled "Let's Avoid the Digital Dark Ages, with Non-Toxic Social Media", I was introduced to some terminology that is new to me.  First off there is digital vellum which is a medium for historical data and records to be preserved.  Next is the concept of data archaeology.  Much like traditional archaeology, Dr. Kelsey presents the need for accessible tools to help in the capture and preservation for digital data that can help tell our digital civilizations story. Additionally, Dr. Kelsey proposes the need for a platform for the curation of a persons digital story that uses more human algorithms that are not made out of click throughs for monetization.  I believe there is certainly a market for such a product as I would love to be able to reclaim my data and digital footprint, categorize it, keep what is relevant to me, and purge the rest.  However, I'm curious as to how this business model can be monetized.  ...

 In the article posted on LinkedIn, the author talks about the need to transition organizations to post quantum cryptography (pqc) to keep up with the advances of technology.  Quantum computing is making our current cryptographic algorithm's obsolete due to there ability to quickly crack existing code.  To keep up with technological advances organizations must plan for the future and make plans to transition to pqc encryption algorithms.   I have limited experience with outdated technology however, when I was consulting, we had a client that became victim of cryptolocker ransomware through clicking on a malicious email link.  This then encrypted all of their shared drives and data.  The client hadn't spent money on upgrading their technology in 15 years and had 0 transition plans in place.  When I arrived on site I only had bad news.  They could either pay the bitcoin ransom or start their business from scratch since the backup that had been ...

 The comscore slides were very interesting to see presented in the video.  They showed how people spend time on different social channels year over year and can be used to see how effective social media advertising campaigns have been and can be based on reach and usage data.  For example, the comscore data suggests that the Facebook reach in 2013 was 88% and increased to 93% in 2014.  However, the average minutes users spent on the app per month decreased for both those using PC's and mobile devices.  PC minutes decreased 8 minutes per month and mobile minutes decreased 73 minutes per month.   I did some further research on TikTok, which boomed during the pandemic, and found through https://blog.hootsuite.com/tiktok-stats/ that TikTok is the number 1 mobile app for consumer spending as of 2022.  Additionally, TikTok advertisements reach 17.9% of internet users aged 18 and over.  That's almost 885 million people.  Lastly, by 2025, T...

 In chapter 2 of Ascend Your Start-up we learned about the authors expedition up Mount Everest to bury her grandmothers ashes.  She likens the climb to bury the ashes to the climb of launching a company and getting a product ready for market.  This begins with creating the minimal viable product (MVP).  The book defines minimal viable product as "a product with only a basic set of features just enough to capture the attention of early adopters and make your solution unique."  Yu goes on to speak about how not all features need to be available as part of the MVP since this is just a starting point to build loyalty and show that the product has a place in the market.  This leads us to decision #6, which is what is your minimal viable product?  Decisions #6-7 in this chapter build on the first 5 decisions presented in chapter 1.  To be a MVP the book says the product must be marketable and you should be able to explain what problem is being solved th...

  As the father of 14 and 12 year old girls, I have concerns over them using social media.  As it stands, neither of them has Facebook, twitter, or Tik Tok.  My kids go to a very highly rated middle school, and I like to think they are safe and secure every day, but they are not.  Middle schoolers are easily influenced and some of the Tik Tok trends are detrimental to their futures.  Early in the school year there was a trend that challenged students to steal stall doors from the bathrooms.  To complete the latest challenge, kids stole bathroom doors and were soon suspended from school.  Only a few years ago, there were kids being hospitalized and dying from the Tide Pod challenge.  In my opinion, none of this is worth a few minutes of internet or middle school fame.  Ezra Klein’s opinion article in The New York Times titled “Tik Tok May Be More Dangerous Than It Looks” focuses on the danger of censorship and weaponization of social media thr...

Establishing a brand on Tik Tok I believe will be easier when posts revolve around specific content. As Dr. Kelsey mentioned on LinkedIn, he believes educational content can be the best sustainable branding basis on Tik Tok. I agree with this statement because in the fortune article about Gohar Kahn, who creates content geared towards students going to college, he is sponsored by companies such as Dell and Pearson. Brands can latch onto content creators that provide content relative to their brand. For Dell and Pearson, Kahn was a logical fit because they can reach students that might need a new computer or to purchase books on their way to college. Similarly, if I was to create content around cooking and meal prep, I would look to secure sponsorship from kitchenware companies or food companies. I believe securing branding deals is more difficult for content creators such as Too Turnt Tony who is a comedy skit creator that has an over-the-top family and a pet duck. He is one of the mos...

In chapter 1 of the book Ascend Your Start-Up: Conquer the 5 Disconnects to Accelerate Growth, the author Helen Yu, reviews the 5 decisions that you need to make before before your startup can be launched.  The first is why are you doing this?  This helps motivate the entrepreneur to determine the objective of the business.  Decision number 2 is what problem are you solving?  This can be interpreted as how is the business going to make an impact?  Decision 3 is defining what success looks like.  This is defining goals, milestones, and measurements.  I have a VP at my company that has a favorite saying of if I can measure it, I can monitor it.  Decision 4 is finding ways to honor your brand.  Honoring a brand is important because a brand is a perceived value of what type of good or service is being offered.  Finally, decision 5 is how will you prepare.  In this step the entrepreneur will outline the business plan and strategy of how ...

 Hi everyone, My name is Andrew Buttrey and I currently reside in Bloomington, IL.  I'm an IS Audit Manager at COUNTRY Financial for another week.  Then, I will be starting my new job as Principal - Information Security Governance & Risk Management at Navy Federal Credit Union.  This position will take us from Bloomington to Pensacola, FL.  I am married with three girls ages fourteen, twelve, and nine.  In my limited free time I enjoy golf and fishing.  This course will be challenging while starting a new job, moving, and keeping up with kids summer activities. I'm excited to be enrolled in MBA 6101 and to learn a little more about marketing.  The hands on approach will be quite different from my previous classes.  This is my second to last course prior to graduation and I will be walking in the graduation ceremony next week.  Hope to see some of you there!