Case Study 2

Look Before You Send

OK, now that you have a domain name and you've done a browser usability poll of your target demographic, it's time to start promoting your new company and your Web address in this little flea market called The Internet.

The title of this Case Study "Look Before You Send" refers to a couple of phenomenon I have experienced by using email in my daily life for the last 25 years and from having been an entrepreneur, and marketing director of several companies for the last 40 years - I started when I was 2-years-old :-)

The first phenomenon has to do with the immediacy of email and one's compulsion to send them off in a blaze of glory before we've proofread what we wrote. Even worse yet is composing an email to a person, or about a subject, while you are still angry with a person or mad about a particular subject. I had an experience once where a colleague of mine sent me an email that angered me to no end. Instead of me hitting the forward button so that I could vent my frustration to another colleague, I instead, in my infinite wisdom, hit the reply button - typed my rants and raves - and hit send. It took about two seconds before my heart stopped beating and plummeted into my stomach. My safety tip here is take a breath before you blast off that email; maybe even stand up and walk around for a few minutes - at the very least proofread it.

The second phenomenon is one that you'll hear any graphic designer or Web developer who have at least a few years experience in their field exclaim testimony of. Which is, you'll never see every mistake until the advertisement, flyer, or Web page is printed or published. Fortunately for Web developers it is not a tragedy and the error, once caught, can be repaired. Many times I've been hit in the face with a huge error not more than 5 seconds after I pay for and pick up a big 10,000 copy print job. The lesson to learn from this is that collaboration can be very helpful in almost any line of work Sharing your ideas and having others proof your work can help you to become much more professional at what you do.

Case Study 2 Instructions

Please, FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY!!!

In this Case Study you will be promoting your new online business using an email distribution list and an email advertising attachment. You will also be blogging a review of the advertisements you receive from the rest of the class.

In order to earn full credit for this case study you need to complete the following four steps:

Compose an advertisement for your new online business (see the instructions for Document 1 below).
Create an email addressed to the entire class and me (see the instructions for Document 2 below).
Attach your advertisement to the email
Blog a review of the advertisements you received from the rest of the class (see the instructions for Document 3 below).

Both the Advertisement and the email message need to promote the product or service that your new online business is offering and must include the following information:

The URL of your Web site
A contact name (real or fictitious), a contact email address
Something resembling a logo for your new online business

Document 1: The Advertisement

The first document you need to create is an advertisement that promotes the product and/or services of your new business.

You can create the document using any computer software program you want, as long as you can save or convert your advertisement into one of these formats: MS Word, Adobe PDF, JPEG, PNG, or GIF.
The resultant file can be no bigger than 100 KB in size and must adhere to the MSJC Acceptable Use Policy (AUP).
Your advertisement must include:
- The URL of your Web site
- A contact name (real or fictitious)
- A contact email address
- Some artwork resembling a logo for your new online business

This part of the assignment is worth 35 points.

Document 2: The Email Distribution

The second document will be an email that you attach the first document (your advertisement) to. Your email will include:

A letter of introduction (write it directly into the email message) explaining why the reader is receiving your email and why they should want to read your email and view the attached advertisement.
The URL of your Web site (i.e. www.SendMeMoney.com)
A contact name (real or fictitious)
A contact email address
Attach your Document 1 advertisement promoting the product or service that you will be offering to the email
( Do not create the advertisement in the email as it will not display properly in all email programs). Use the Attach a file link below the window where you have typed your email message to attach your Document 1 advertisement. Also, check the box that reads "A copy of this email will be sent to the sender" so that a copy of the email will be sent to you as well (see image below).

You will send the email to your instructor and to the rest of the class. You'll find your classmates email addresses by clicking on the Course Email link in the Course Menu and then by clicking on All Users.

This part of the assignment is worth 35 points.

Document 3: Blog Review

Finally, you will compose a Blog listing the following:

The URL and Name of each company you received an email from (you must include at least 5 companies).
Write a short comment about each of the companies
- What you liked or didn't like about the advertisement
- What you think about the conceptual idea of the company itself
- What you think of the company logo
- What did you think about the professionalism of the overall presentation
Select one company as the one that you think did the best job of promoting themselves.

Post your opinions to the Case Study 2 Blog submission link found in the Learning Unit 1, Lesson 2 folder or by clicking on Blogs in the Course Menu. Read the CS 2 Blog Rubric for details on how you will be scored on this part of the assignment.

This part of the assignment is worth 30 points.