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Patrick Laraway's
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Welcome, Who am I?
I an experienced account manager with an expertise in business-to-business sales and program implementation. My professional experience is derived from working with a major tire manufacturer and a local Charlotte start-up. I have been particularly successful in the implementation and customization of programs to fit the customers needs.
Info
Patrick Laraway
222 East Bland St Apt #182
Charlotte
North Carolina
28203
336-317-3131
Patrick.Laraway_gmail.com
Account Management, Sales, Customer Service, Business Development, Social Media Marketing
The Tipping Point, Trust Agents, The Green Marketing Manifesto, Twitter Tips Tricks and Tweets, How Lance Does It, Brand Warfare.
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©CompanyName 2008-2009 All human and animal rights carefully reserved and preserved.
Appalachian State University
While at Appalachian State University I earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a major in Marketing. The Walker College of Business provided me knowledge in each area of study accounting, finance, management, computer science, supply chain, and marketing. This college has set a strong foundation for me to succeed in today's business environment.
Activities and Honors
Kappa Alpha Order
I held recruitment, social, blood drive chair, planned fundraisers for Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) and Hurricane Katrina victims.
Study Abroad
I Traveled from July 2-August 4, 2006 as part of Walker College of Business. Studied along with German students at the University of Trier. Visited various German production companies such as Brose, Japan Tobacco, GKN, and Hirschvogel.
Self Employed Landscaper
To support myself I started a landscaping service for two summers. One job turned into full-time work, eventually two other employees came to work for me. Was able to support myself financially through each summer.
American Marketing Association
While with the club I assisted with fundraiser planning and club promotion.
Internship
Professional
MINDSCAPE WELLNESS CENTER
Freelance Marketing and Sales
Charlotte, NC
Employed by Mindscape to develop a product offering, construct a brand, and promote the company.
•Developed customizable service packages by researching competition and allied professionals in the industry, set strategic price points, and pinpointed a target market.
•Branded Mindscape as an alternative healthcare option for the employees of local businesses as well as Mecklenburg county schools.
•Promoted by incorporating a new consistent theme through the website, Twitter page, Facebook page, blog, E-Zine, and POS.
CONTIENTAL TIRE, NORTH AMERICA
Area Dealer Manager
Chicago, IL
Primary contact for independent tire dealers in the states of IA, MO, KS, and IL. Achieved year over year sales increases in contrast to the industrys recession, accumulated over $21 million in sales annually.
•Business-to-Business Sales responsibilities: forecasting, inventory management, product education, program and product training, supply chain knowledge, and customer relations.
•Program Implementation: presented, executed, and concluded quarterly and yearly financial programs, executed and implemented various marketing programs to each member of the supply chain, summarization reporting to sales management and national account managers.
•Account Management Duties: developed solid relationships with customers ranging from CEOs to small retail store managers, territory included 63 accounts, 15 of which contributed 83% of sales, and became proficient in Microsoft applications, Mosses, and SAP.
Regional Sales Coordinator
Kansas City, MO
Worked under the Area Dealer Managers and assisted with the substantial growth of our preferred retailer program.
•Business-to-Business Sales: product-training presentations, tracking and forecasting retailer sales, supplied retailers with proper point-of-sale materials, and assisted distributors in enrolling new retailers.
•Program Implementation: presented, executed, concluded retail marketing campaigns and promotions to retailer/distributor sales teams.
•Scheduled to hold this role for at least one year, but a promotion to Area Dealer Manager
was offered after five months.
Alderman Photography Company
June-August 2007
Account Manager Intern
Worked with The Home Depot account. Responsible for communication with clients, data organization and workflow logistics. Managed details for multiple projects simultaneously. Developed presentations and reports in PowerPoint and Excel. Interacted with all departments.
Question and Answer
Why did you choose to move to Charlotte?
Why do you want to work within the digital
marketing feild?
After spending time in the mid-west and Seattle, I realized there is no place like home. Charlotte is a city that is experiencing terrific growth. Charlotte is a trend setting city that I believe will continue to grow for decades to come.
Many companies can benefit from a strategic internet marketing platform that is tailored to their business model. I can help tailor and communitcate those platforms to better a company's internet presence.
Did I miss something?
Why did I leave my previous employer?
Mindscape is a young company that I enjoyed working with. I realized it would be best for me and Mindscapte to work as a freelancer, rather than a full time employee.
What motivates me?
My motivation comes from helping people and companies reach their goals. I enjoy learning what companies need to better themselves and how we can work together to reach those goals. The process of developing a plan with a customer to reach their goal, implementing and tweaking the plan along the way, and presenting the positive final results is gratifying to me.
Is Facebook Becoming the Next A.O.L.?
Last week Facebook unveiled their February updates. These updates happen every two or three months and throws the Facebook faithful into a tizzy. Most posts resembled phrases such as: "Just when I learn how to use Facebook, they go and change everything", "Facebook made these changes in order to share our information with 3rd parties", "Facebook just wants to sell our information, nothing free will last", "Change your security settings, or else you will be sold off into slavery!" Okay maybe the last one is a bit of a stretch but I think you get the point.
When Facebook makes these updates, it is as if they poked a beehive. The reason Facebook is making these updates is not to sell your identity to evil marketers, but to continue to grow the Facebook product.
By looking at The Everett Rogers Diffusion of Innovations theory, for any given product category, there are five categories of product adopters (thank you Wikipedia), you can see Facebook is nearing the end of its product life cycle. The theory shows you the four categories of users early adapters, early majority, late majority, and laggards.
•Early Adapters- currently 22-28 years old, started their first Facebook page in college or high school about 5 or 6 years ago.
•Early Majority- currently 16-24 years old, this group followed came along by the masses and joined Facebook about 3 or 4 years ago. This group blew up Facebook to the size it is today.
•Late Majority- currently 30 plus age group. This group joined Facebook, about a 1 or 2 years ago and is mostly the parents of the early adapters and early majority.
•Laggards- this group includes a few later aged patrons, but also this group is the sudden onslaught of businesses trying to gain brand recognition through Facebook.
Facebook is maxed out and needs to branch out their service offerings to entice users to use their product more often or for a longer amount of time. By updating their site periodically they can slowly morph into Facebook 2.0.
The changes made last week tell me Facebook wants to keep the user on their site for a longer amount of time. Facebook wants to have the user sign into Facebook.com then keep the user on the site for the user's complete Internet experience.
Facebook is trending towards a former web giant that crashed and burned. America Online was the family favorite of the 90s. A.O.L. was the first to site that alllowed the user to construct their own on-line identity and share that information with others. The A.O.L. offering included a screen name, buddy list, personal profile, email address, instant messaging service with an away message option, and a welcome screen that included a search agent of the web.
A.O.L. was the first major social media platform. It is only natural for Facebook to grow from that, but Facebook is growing towards that. The similarities are becoming more obvious. Facebook was born off the idea of posting your information (a profile) and allowing others to connect to you. Now Facebook is looking more and more like AOL. I give you The Facebook-AOL Comparability Table:
America Online Facebook
Screen Name Customizable Name ex: Bill The Missile Smith
Buddy List Friends List
Profile Profile
Email Address Rumored to be coming soon:
BillTheMissileSmith_facebook.com
Instant Messaging Instant Messaging
Away Message Status Updates
Search Agent Search bar that includes findings on Facebook and web
Chat Rooms Groups with on-going conversations
Both A.O.L. and Facebook are social networking sites, but the future of web is allowing your user to have freedom. When users get closed into a service they squeal and run away. Google has built an empire on allowing the user to dictate what they want to see not Google dictating, except for advertisements.
Facebook needs to do what they do best, connect people to people. Keep it simple Facebook. Stay away from the AOL model. Vintage is the new style trend, but Im not sure that translates into social networking.
