What have i got to offer?

The fourth lecture was mainly focused on the S.W.O.T analysis.

S.W.O.T ; Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. By looking at each of these individually ,This method of analysing can help me as a one side of a business partnership (art director & copy writer) to evaluate our company and more specifically what I bring to the table and what I need to improve on. The thing that I find that is so good about S.W.O.T analysis is the fact that anybody doing one has to be really honest with themselves in order for it to work! This kind of honesty can only help you realise what state your business and your future prospects are in.

Having been shown how to do it for ourselves we where shown how to do it for our competitors companies! by being tactful and constructive in both your criticisms for our own companies and our competitors. By doing this it would allow me as a future business owner to compare each company fairly so as to learn from what they do well and how my company is more successful from theres.

My S.W.O.T Analysis...

Strengths

Photography

Illustration / Illustrator

Photoshop

Can drive to locations / meetings.

Weaknesses

Time management

Opportunities

Take more art based classes to refine skills.

Create a photo library to have visual references that could help with idea pitching.

All publicity is good publicity? - Getting their attention!

The third lecture was all about reaching your target market making sure we best choose who, where, why and when we should be aiming at when I decide to Apply for a job in an agency or maybe when doing some freelance work on the side.

Having gone over the different types of selling / Advertising to the public (shops, internet, radio, market stalls, eBay..) I realised that with my future plans I wouldn't really be advertising my services to the public, I would need to advertise/ promote my skills to agencies instead!?

As part of my course it has always been drilled into us that in order to attract the attention of any well respected agencies we would have to not only have an well presented portfolio of work but I will also have to think outside of the box when it comes to getting your foot in the door let alone an interview! Other than going round door to door Harassing agencies to look at my portfolio (which i fully intend to do) I need to discuss with my partner Gemma some creative ways to stick in the creative directors minds?!

Bridget went on to discuss the importance of customer relations and how it can make of break a business. She explained that by doing thing such as creating special offers, sale days, reward points and coupon systems or maybe even associating your business with a charity could better improve your chances of pulling in more customers. Although directly targeting customers wont really effect me until I obtain a job in an agency I fully understand and can relate it to how I am going to have to negotiate and maybe make "special offers" and "deals" in order to attract a potential employer. By doing any of the above things I am most probably going to strengthen my prospects as I will Reach a wider audience, and after possibly gaining employed status, Build a relationships within the agencies, in turn Building trust and a better reputation for myself for if I ever did want to move on.