11/24/2009
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Tell me about a time when you had to link long-range visions and strategies to your day-to-day work.

	The best example would be my experience with branding. We hired some star athletes to brand our product. We sold the brand name, and everything we did supported that. We bought mailing lists and sent out thousands of ads through the mail. We spent a fair share of our budget pushing the brand. Basically, every activity revolved around the brand we were trying to establish. Everyone in the company bought into the concept.
	My approach to marketing involves retaining current customers first and attracting new customers second. A challenge I faced when I started at my last company was a lack of customer retention. I worked with my staff and members of other relevant departments to strategize to retain first and then build. Teams were sent out to interview customers. The data collected was fed to the marketing department, and as a result, we used permission marketing -- asking first and then sending information only upon request. The key to this programs success was getting my teams buy-in and support from the very beginning.
	I usually keep up with what's going on in the general market and sometimes have to act fast to get market share. We were trying to get attention in a fast-paced environment. I usually work a great deal around budget, attempting to maximize leverage. I've been known to buy some premium advertising to get the word out. Ive lead some pretty successful campaigns, even when market conditions have not been in our favor.

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