Jamescruz124's Blog

Update

jamescruz124 — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:28:43 +0000

Right now my capstone is having a slow start. We’ve been able to sell t-shirts, but we haven’t scheduled another day to sell them at the school. We still need to contact the organizations so when we sell our product we can use their name. We know what we’re going to do once the t-shirts are sold, but we just need to sell most of them to come up with the money for printing off more t-shirts. We have a template to write down the: names, the grade level, number of t-shirts purchased, the size, and the amount. We plan on using this template to gather information on who buys our t-shirts and to keep track of who we sell to. We decided that if there isn’t enough time then I won’t create the website, but its still an option. If we do have a running website then we have to come up with a quick promotional video or a couple of them. We have numerous graphics made, flyers, order forms, templates, and t-shirts; its just mainly about selling the t-shirts now.

Research Update

jamescruz124 — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:31:35 +0000

I finished getting my online research last week and I’ve been spending this week gathering up my information and designing my questionnaire. I got my information from a variety of sources and I’m going to try and present it in a format that will ask the questions I want to be answered. The questionnaire is going to help me figure out what my target audience wants in a product instead of me just assuming what kind of products they like. I found a lot of research for business strategies so I’m going to try that and show my capstone partner the ideas. I’m still planning on giving it to my classmates at CAL, but I might only be able to give it to some of them one day and not the other. I’m trying to complete it before I leave for break so I can give a report on my research once I come back. If that doesn’t work than I’ll just hand them out when I come back from the break.

jamescruz124 — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:55:59 +0000

Status Report
Give me the status of your research. What are you doing to take care of your research portion of capstone currently? Have you started? If not then why?

I just started my research today, so I don’t have much information yet. I’m currently just finding marketing techniques on the internet and product campaigns that have worked. I ‘m trying to find key things they did and maybe patterns with companies. I’m going to find as much research as necessary to complete my questionnaire before I start it. I think that if I have enough notes then I can base questions off those notes.

Project update
What are you doing for capstone this week? Are there any issues or problems that I need to know about?

For my capstone this week we are making copies of the order forms and trying to find customers before our shirts are complete. The shirts will be finished soon, so it won’t be much longer before we start selling them. We still are in the process of posting up flyers around the local cities to spread the message.

Research Update

jamescruz124 — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:13:53 +0000

My research question I’m trying to answer is “What are successful marketing techniques in selling t-shirts?”. The method I’ll be combining/ modifying my two previous ideas of finding information online and conducting a focus group. Since my time frame for collecting my research is limited, I’ll be finding the successful techniques online first then I’ll create a questionnaire where I can get responses from my target audience without having to gather them up. I realized that a focus group would require a longer time frame than I’m given, so my solution is the questionnaire. When I look up successful techniques I’ll be taking notes on those strategies that companies have used and their campaigns with certain products. I’ll be mostly looking for patterns in the most successful campaigns and figure out how I can apply them to my product. When I finish my online research, I’ll create a questionnaire for my target audience that will address their opinions on certain products. I’ll be distributing these questionnaires during my CAL classes to the other students in my DMD classes. By the end of the day I’ll collect the questionnaires and go over their response so I can come up with a better idea of what my target audience wants. I’ll apply this new information to my capstone so I can meet with my audiences needs/ wants. This information will lead me to having a more successful capstone project and produce products that reflect my target audiences desires.

Capstone Research

jamescruz124 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:57:30 +0000

For my essential question I’ll use “What are successful marketing techniques in selling t-shirts?”. The research I’ll conduct will involve me looking up the techniques online so I can compare other companies methods with their products success rate. Another approach to my research might involve focus groups of my target audience so I can gather my information all at once and have immediate feedback from them on the product. I can ask them why they think a certain way about the t-shirts and compare their reactions to what our goal/ message for the shirts are. These methods will prove to be the most favorable for my capstone because they’re both ways of collecting my information on prosperous techniques. By looking up companies techniques I can deepen my understanding with the business aspect of the project and be able to explain to my capstone partner ways we can alter our marketing for more sales. Reviewing over the techniques also allows me to find patterns that seem to work and filter our the ineffective ones. If I use a focus group I can question them so my target audience will understand my product better and be able to recognize the message I mean to convey. By hearing the connotations of the shirt from them I can alter the product to their preferences while still maintaining the original message in the shirts. I can learn from them marketing techniques that worked on them and be able to access that knowledge later when we sell the t-shirts.

Research Questions

jamescruz124 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:26:18 +0000

What are successful marketing techniques in selling t-shirts? What makes a consumer want to obtain a certain t-shirt? What are some ways to advertise a product like a t-shirt? What features are included on apparel websites that attract costumers?

By knowing these marketing techniques my capstone will be more successful at selling the product. With these techniques I can approach the issue on multiple fronts and be able to reach out to a wider audience. This will result in more sales and make the capstone a bigger success.

If I’m able to know how a consumer thinks from my target audience then I can pinpoint what to improve on the designs or marketing aspect of the t-shirts. I can use that knowledge to attract more customers into getting the product and I’d be able to give to the customer what they want.

If I knew the different ways on how to advertise then I’d be able to get the message across different audiences in the Portland metro area. Through successful advertising more people will understand what our product is and more people will be drawn into buying the product.

If I know how to keep potential customers on the website then I can be more successful in convincing them to get the t-shirts. This would be useful to know before I start the website and it will help me come up with better plans on making the website.

Update

jamescruz124 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:38:00 +0000

What did you accomplish last week?

Last week I was able to complete the flyer and I was able to create a new design for the t-shirts. I have three more shirts to complete including our graduation t-shirt. We were also able to create the cafepress account and get our shop up and running. We’ve uploaded different products on the website and are constantly improving on it. Also the flyer’s design was completed last week with contact information included on it.

What will you accomplish this week?

This week hopefully all of our designs will be complete by the end of the week. We will also head over to Kinko’s t to mass produce our flyers and we plan on distributing them this weekend. We still need to contact our manufacturer and contact the local peace organizations. We need to come up with fund raising ideas that can be put into action this week so we can raise the initial money for our t-shirts.

Look ahead to next week.

By next week we should be fundraising for our product and figuring out routes to go on. We should be coming up with places to go to in order to sell out t-shirts. Also we will have an estimate on the t-shirts from our manufacturer.

Problems or concerns.

My partner doesn’t have an adviser form his capstone because no health science teacher is willing to be his since they think that our capstone idea doesn’t involve health science enough into it.

Update

jamescruz124 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:40:12 +0000

What you accomplished last week.

Last week we were able to come up with 6 official designs for the t-shirts. We decided that our concepts for the shirts will either focus on peace or will be associated on another idea that our idea can merge with. We came up with multiple ideas that could be potentially used if we are able to gather enough resources after are initial 6 shirts. We also came up with the design for the flyer that we will be distributing soon. We also created an email account for the project. I was able to finish the logo, the logo with two different fonts to choose from, and our Taoist inspired harmony design. We might be able to sell our “Graduation” shirts at the senior all night party at our home high school.

What you are working on this week.

Today when we meet after school we plan on making an account on cafe press and posting some of our designs too. We plan on calling the manufacturer since our last meeting had to be postponed. We will look up more manufacturers in the Portland area after we call the company and we will be contacting them too. We will come up with our final decision with our manufacturer later this week. Our design for the flyer will also be finished and the designs will either be close to being finished or will be complete.

What you expect to work on next week.

Next week I will either be finishing the last couple of designs or we will be figuring out how to fund raise our idea. We will post the last designs on cafepress. We also plan on handing out and posting some of the flyers in the portland metro area. We will be contacting our official manufactuer if we come up with the design money fast enough, but that will probably be the week after.
Any problems or issues.

I’m having trouble finding a domain where our site can be published. What’s a list of some good hosting websites?

Update

jamescruz124 — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:02:34 +0000

This week I plan on working on the 6 t-shirt designs along with revising the logo we came up with. Also this weekend we plan on contacting a certain manufacturer to get an estimate on the t-shirts. We might have to call other business’ and get estimates from them and choose the from the best under our circumstances. This weekend we’ll discuss on what other media outlets we want to use and how we’ll come up with them. Designs for the other media outlets will be made so we can have them prepared by the estimated date. This weekend we’ll look up websites for hosting our site so that we will know where it’ll be on the internet. Fund raising ideas will be discussed and solutions will be made also. Our idea so far is going door to door to ask for donations for out cause. We’ll be looking for humane/ peace organizations who are willing to collaborate with us and make possible donations to the making of our t-shirts.

Task List

jamescruz124 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:01:58 +0000

Media

T-shirt Designs (completion date 11/1/09, James & Sam)

Brainstorm ideas for logos
Create the logo
Brainstorm ideas for the other 5 designs
Alter the logo for other designs
Have the final 6 designs

Making the website (completion date 3/1/10 James)

Decide how many pages will be done
Find design tips for websites
Create design concept for the website
Start making the website
Create each page
Add additional elements to the website (flash, a blog, video, etc.)
Troubleshoot the website
Fix the mistakes
Make the website public
Update the website accordingly

Making the video (completion date 3/1/10 James & Sam)

Create a treatment for the video
Find actors
Write script for the video
Gather equipment for the video
Film
Edit the film
Publish the film on the website

Other Media Outlets (completion date 11/15/09 James & Sam)

Figure out which other media outlets we want (fliers, pamphlets, etc.)
Create content
Design them
Mass produce them
Hand them out

Business Aspects

Starting the fundraiser (completion date 12/1/09 James & Sam)

Figure out our approach to fundraising
Contact necessary facilities or people
Gather materials to promote our product
Start fundraising
Stop when we’ve reached our goal

Finding business partners completion date 11/30/09 James & Sam)

Figure out who we want to work with
Arrange a meeting
Promote our concept
Find out if business partners want to work with us
Repeat process if necessary
Arrange more meetings with our business partners for updates
Contact them when necessary

Selling the product (completion date 4/30/10 James & Sam)

Figure out where we want to sell
Contact necessary people to sell at certain areas
Gather t-shirts
Gather extra materials (table, posters, etc.)
Go to designated area
Set up our booth
Sell
Calculate our success for the day
Record our data
Repeat process multiple times
Calculate our success for the whole time period
Create charts to display success