Decaff, extra "f" for emphasis

Hello all people who have stumbled onto this blog by accident, chance, fate, or other belief system. Perhaps you didn't quite know what the heck I was talking about in the last blog or what this blog is about. Luckily for you, I am going to write more about it, right here, right now, but in a free style colliquial manner that hopefully doesn't make you wish you had real mocha and not this mocha marketing blog.
First off, I'm a senior....in high school. I attend Basis Scottsdale, an extremely difficult school that kicked my butt into studying like a maniac while also squeezing in exercise, extra cirriculars, and volunteer activities. But a plus side to all this hard work is that I understand how to do hard work and appreciate it. I guess that's why I chose to do this senior research project.
What is this senior research project, you ask (or maybe didn't ask but I'm answering it anyways)? It's a project that seniors have a choice of doing during their third trimester while they don't go to school (yes, I did just say that seniors don't have school during the thrid trimester). During the project, we have to research a thesis of ours, usually through an internship or self-study. After a little over 3 months, we present some final product and give a presentation to teachers, parents, and other students.
The only problem was coming up with the thesis. I am interested in so many things and have questions about those things that it was hard to pick a subject. I am really interested in the sciences, but I am also curious about modern day economics and actually want to go into advertising. So I brainstormed. First, I started out with wanting to research the connection between taste and metabolism...unfortunately, it would have been completely self study and even self testing research because of the lack of information on it. It took me a while, but some help from teachers and friends, I came up with my current idea: to find the best method of advertising. I eventually came up with a thesis and modified it to the certain internship that I was lucky enough to get. Chef Omei, the owner of a small coffee and breakfast/brunch/lunch shop, was actually open to the idea of me, a high school senior, advertising her coffee shop. I didn't quite believe it at first (how many people would trust an 18 year old with their advertising?), but I met her in person and she really wanted to embrace the community and new ideas.
And now I will be researching through an awesome internship on the best way to market a small local coffee shop. I will be comparing internet advertising versus community outreach and which is most effective for this particular business. It's going to be a lot of work: facebook-ing and updating websites, making ads and articles to attract customers, inviting people to entertain at the shop, or finding groups who need space for some club, hobby, pta meeting, ect...but I think it will be a lot of fun.

First, the Basics

Research Question:

What method of advertising is the most profitable for a local coffee shop: social networking and other web presence or community outreach via local publishing?

Evidence to Assist:

Many have tried very inventive ways of reaching out through the community (Cowsultants). Many studies have found this more cost effective and better at attracting customers than web ads (McCabe, Forbes).

Many have attempted social networking and have found mixed results depending on the business; some business have found it effective in getting more business and connecting with customers on a more personal level, and some have found that the amount of people who like/follow you on social network sites does not correlate with business success (Pradiptarini).

Argument:

I hope to establish that the most cost effective method of advertising for this particular kind of business is a balance between web presence and community outreach.

Counterargument:

One or the other is best depending on the business. A balance of both will waste either money or time, or both. Some businesses, usually small and local business or one-person businesses thrive on the web, whereas larger businesses with a wider consumer demographic thrive on community outreach.

Response:

This project will allow me to discover the effectiveness of both strategies with a small local business that has a large consumer demographic.

Bias:

For me, art has always been about catching people’s interest. Why do people like some art and not others? Why are connotations of certain colors and images different than others? And why did those loud, obnoxious nickelodeon commercials always mesmerize me when I was a little girl? I’m interested in understanding both the psychology of the human to understand the “why” and the formation of the art to understand the “what.” I found that advertising would be a great field to get into in order to become an expert in both “why” and “what” while always being enthralled with the ever-changing answers.