Thankful - Day 3 Work

Ever since I was a little girl, all I wanted to do was to grow up and be a mommy. In college, I kind of lost sight of  that because I got swept away by the "corporate" dream. (I wasn't getting closer to the whole marriage and baby thing up there at school!) Thank goodness I moved home, met Jeff and snapped out of that dream! Now that I'm a mommy, I just want to be a stay at home mom! Forget about corporate America. Leave that to everyone else. I want to be the VP of my home not a company. Since Jeff is student teaching right now I get to be the one to provide for our family. (Student teaching! Really that's a sweet deal for everyone BUT the student. Seriously! The student PAYS the university lots of money so they can work full-time teaching public school without getting paid! How fair is that?!? Anyhow back to being grateful...I'm grateful for student teaching...I'm grateful for student teaching...) 

I am blessed to have a great job and an amazing boss who lets me bring Scotty to work everyday. And even more, they like each other! My boss will get down on the floor and play with Scotty! He even lets Scotty chill with him at his desk! How many moms would do anything to have a situation like that! 

I am thankful for my job, for my boss, and especially that I get to hang out with this cute kid all of the time, even when I'm at work.

Fun at the office

Hard at work :)

Validated

I went on my very first business trip last week to San Francisco 

AND I even have my own business cards.

We (Jeff got to come too!) attended the Marketo User Summit 2010 

held at the Marriott San Francisco Marque.

I feel validated.

The hotel was huge!!

She had purple extensions

No I did not fall asleep during the conference...
ok maybe for just a second

Customer Retention: Mimi’s Mouth-Watering muffins (Another Marketing Post)

***This post was originally posted on my work blog. ***

Customer Retention: Mimi’s Mouth-Watering muffins
By Elizabeth Brinton

When it comes to marketing, some companies miss the mark while there are others that “get it” like Mimi’s Café. They operate in 22 states and get it right in so many ways within their restaurants and online… let me share with you my recent experience with Mimi’s…



My husband and I decided to try a new restaurant for breakfast on Saturday so we chose Mimi’s Café. Once seated, our waitress asked if we had ever been there before and we hadn’t. She was slightly surprised because they “don’t advertise much.”

Our first meal there was delightful: the food, the atmosphere, our waitress - all excellent. As we were finishing our meal, the manager came to our table to personally thank us for visiting Mimi’s. She presented us with a box of 4 big, delicious, warm muffins and invited us to come again. They may not have done much to get us in the door; however, they certainly know how to keep us coming back for more.

Mimi’s Café seems to “get it” within their restaurant. They might not do much advertising, but every time I drive by a Mimi’s I notice their parking lot is packed. You see, they don’t need to do a great deal of advertising. They focus on retaining existing customers. Acquiring a new customer can cost up to 5 times more than satisfying and retaining current customers. Instead of advertising, Mimi’s provides an excellent experience to its customers and then their customers spread the word. I’ve told at least 10 people about it and now I’m blogging about it as I’m eating one of those delicious muffins.

Mimi’s also “gets it” online. Like many places, they have an online club. But unlike other places, they send you a coupon for a free breakfast entrée just for signing up! (Completely free, no additional purchase necessary.) This may sound crazy-- giving something for nothing. However, they know that if they can get you in the door you will be a lifelong customer. Additionally, if you sign up online just after your birthday, they will even send you a belated birthday gift. Mimi’s respects you and your email so they don’t flood you with pointless advertisements. Instead, they continue sending you valuable coupons for savings and free food throughout the year.

Mimi’s “gets it”. They understand the importance of building relationships with their existing customers. If you keep them happy and even at times surpass their expectations, they will return again and again inviting others to do the same.

What about your company, do you “get it”? Do you understand how to retain your customers and make the most out of your communication streams? If keeping customers is a problem, give us a call. We can help. 602.692.3818.

Elizabeth Brinton
I.R. Gilyeat & Co.

Marketing Post 2

I've written another blog post for my marketing company, I.R.Gilyeat & Co. Check it out!
"5 Reasons Why You Need A Marketing Audit"

Client Pitch

Today I made my first ever client pitch. Wow.
Background: my mom is friends with Mary, one of the founders of "My Medical Memory" (M3). When Mary found out I did marketing she asked if I would be willing to meet with her to discuss the possibility of me doing work for M3. After that initial meeting with her, she asked if I would make a pitch to her 2 partners. Eek! A real client pitch!

I put together a presentation of what I could do for M3 and delivered it today. I was so nervous!! But I don't think it didn't hinder my presenting abilities because from what they told me afterwards, it was a dang good presentation :)

Anyways, they got back to me within a couple hours and drum roll please! .........................................................................................................................................................
I got the client! Woohoo!! Oh yeah, happy dance! work it, uh huh. Yay!! Ha ha. I officially have my first client of my very own. It is exciting and slightly, ok really, nerve-wrecking at the same time.

I really appreciate what a friend told me this week. Essentially he said, "Don't worry. You'll do great. You'll rise to the occasion--You always do". I love friends like that! Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'm sure there will be updates as to how it is going later on.

WooHOOOO!!! (sorry, I couldn't resist one more. I'm just a little excited)

Marketing Post

For work, I've done a lot of blog marketing, which increases traffic to the company website by commenting on others marketing blogs. Well I've finally written my own marketing blog post! I feel so "official" ;)
Here's the link if you want to read it

Bored to Tears

Have you ever thought, "Oh I wish I had free time or just some time where I could do nothing?" After these past two weeks I would say to you, don't wish too hard or you just might get it. Tomorrow will mark the end of week 2 of my unemployment. I am going nuts. Day after day I spend hours on end searching for jobs, applying for them, and then getting rejected by them--not that I really wanted any of those ones anyways, but still, rejection in any form kinda hurts.

Most of my life I have kept myself so ridiculously busy that I have barely had time to think! But that's how I like it. Now that I have too much time on my hands and too much time to think the boredom is really getting to me. In fact, I want to cry right now because I feel like I've been so unproductive. Which, if I may interject my own thoughts right here, is not really true. Each morning I wake up at 6 for ballroom practice and when I return, I make myself a really, really long "to do" list (with things such as scripture study, cleaning, reading, exercising, job hunting, etc) just to make sure I stay busy. But without something big like school or work to fill up most of my day, I feel like I'm just wasting my time. So back to me wanting to cry...yeah, I still want to. In fact I would do so right now if my roommates weren't here to see it.

All Good Things Must Come To An End

Wow, so my last post was about how excited I was for my new job (which I have absolutely loved, by the way) but sadly this post is about the opposite. I found out last week that due to the struggling economy, R[E]D is shutting down it's office and as of this up-coming Friday all of us are getting laid off. That totally sucks. I was so shocked when I found out. I didn't even get to work there long enough for my benefits to kick in!

I don't think anyone expects that at their first real job out of college. I mean, who would ever think that within a month of starting their job they would be laid off? I've decided that maybe since I'm planning on being a "stay at home mom" later on in my life that all of these experiences are being crammed into a short period of time, just to make sure I don't miss out on anything. How kind. So I don't know what I am going to do, but I have got to find a job fast. Not just for the money but because if I have that much time on my hands I will go nuts!

But don't worry. Even though this really bad thing is happening, I am in good spirits. I have faith that Heavenly Father will bless me and things will work out. I know He has something amazing prepared for me, I just have to have faith in His timetable because sometimes I grow impatient waiting. In the end, everything always works out. It always has. And I have faith that it always will.

As my friend told me, "Liz, if you were a gambling person I'd say hold onto your cards because somehow you always come out the winner." Thanks :) Don't you just love friends like that? Yep. He's pretty wonderful and I appreciate the vote of confidence.

My First *Real* Job

I just got hired on with RED a marketing research company. Yeah!! If you want to check it out, here is the website: www.redslc.com.

I start in January.

My first real job--I am so excited!!!

Elevator Problems

On Wednesday I was running to work after a dance class. My legs were already tired and really didn't want to climb 3 flights of stairs so I decided to take the elevator. I pushed #3, the doors closed, then I felt a jolt and the elevator proceeded to crash down to the basement. It was thrilling! When it landed, none of the buttons worked. I even tried holding down buttons but that still didn't work. I finally pressed the 'door open' button and the doors did open, but then smashed shut really fast. I could stay stuck in the elevator in the basement OR I could try to get out and be smooshed by the door. My options looked so appealing!

Me being my brilliant self, decided to hold the button down and get out of the elevator most of the way and then let go of the button and quickly get the rest of me out. Thankfully it worked and I got out ok.

The frustrating part was I had taken the elevator to avoid climbing 3 flights of stairs and since I ended up in the basement I had to climb 4!