SHOW TOPIC
Introducing Raider Crate Part II
SPECIAL GUEST
Seneca Valley Senior and Raider Crate Head of Creative and Marketing Departments, Sydney McMurray
IN THIS EPISODE, WE WILL REVIEW
• What are the marketing plans/goals for Raider Crate
• How the team comes up with what items to put in the box
• How Raider Crate finds sponsors to contribute to a crate
• How someone can order a crate
• Where people can learn more about Raider Crate
USEFUL INFORMATION
https://www.raidercrate.org/
https://www.instagram.com/raidercrate/
https://www.facebook.com/raider.crate.5
SHOW TOPIC
Introducing Raider Crate Part II
SPECIAL GUEST
Seneca Valley Senior and Raider Crate Head of Creative and Marketing Departments, Sydney McMurray
IN THIS EPISODE, WE WILL REVIEW
• What are the marketing plans/goals for Raider Crate
• How the team comes up with what items to put in the box
• How Raider Crate finds sponsors to contribute to a crate
• How someone can order a crate
• Where people can learn more about Raider Crate
USEFUL INFORMATION
https://www.raidercrate.org/
https://www.instagram.com/raidercrate/
https://www.facebook.com/raider.crate.5
FULL TRANSCRIPT (with timecode)
Voices E19 Sydney McMurray
File Name: Voices E19 Sydney McMurray.mp3
File Length: 00:05:54
00:00:02:22 - 00:00:07:24
Introduction: Welcome to Voices, a podcast brought to you by the Seneca Valley School District.
00:00:10:18 - 00:00:15:23
Jeff Krakoff: Today, I'm with Sydney McMurray, who's a senior at Seneca Valley. Sydney, thanks for joining us.
00:00:16:08 - 00:00:17:09
Sydney McMurray: Thanks so much for having me.
00:00:17:14 - 00:00:22:14
Jeff Krakoff: So we want to talk about some of the details of the Raider Crate.
00:00:24:12 - 00:00:40:21
Jeff Krakoff: I know in a previous segment of Voices, we talked about how the idea came about during a competition, the fact that the first boxes have gone out in the fall and there's quite a few more scheduled throughout the rest of the school year.
00:00:42:14 - 00:00:48:24
Jeff Krakoff: Tell me a little bit about the marketing plans, what your goals are for Raider Crate for the rest of the school year.
00:00:49:13 - 00:01:03:00
Sydney McMurray: So the overall goals when it comes to marketing for Raider Crate is really just to let all of the students know, let their parents know and let local businesses know who we are, what we offer and who are associated with, which is the SV Foundation.
00:01:03:21 - 00:01:10:08
Jeff Krakoff: OK, can you share some of the ideas of how you're going to be marketing and communicating to get the word out?
00:01:10:18 - 00:01:37:07
Sydney McMurray: Sure. So we have both a Facebook and an Instagram page, as well as our website. And through all three of those platforms, we really just push out information about upcoming boxes, upcoming businesses. When boxes are going to be dropped, like getting hype around the drop days. That'll be something that's coming in the future. And we've also worked a little bit with on the SV Foundation's marketing team to work with the Seneca Valley Instagram page as well.
00:01:37:22 - 00:01:42:20
Jeff Krakoff: Got it. So the website, correct me if I'm wrong, it's raidercrate.org.
00:01:43:01 - 00:01:43:24
Sydney McMurray: That is correct.
00:01:43:26 - 00:01:49:18
Jeff Krakoff: OK, and what about the Facebook and Instagram handles if people want to check those out?
00:01:50:07 - 00:01:53:23
Sydney McMurray: Our handle on both of them is just @raidercrate all one word, all lowercase.
00:01:54:15 - 00:02:09:20
Jeff Krakoff: Got it. So again, I think what makes this unique is the idea that it's a mystery each time that the crates are produced and sent out. How do you and your team come up and decide what items are going into the crates each time?
00:02:10:13 - 00:02:40:20
Sydney McMurray: So our business is split into departments and the first team that deals with all the boxes is the creative department. I am currently the head of the creative department and we have a few students that I work with and we've formulated a list of ideas like of anything that we can put into the box. And we go through that list, come up with our own ideas. We get a little bit of student input through our Instagram and Facebook about what they want to see in the boxes. And we put together one box that we find financially feasible, but the customer will find really valuable.
00:02:41:03 - 00:02:51:08
Jeff Krakoff: OK, can you share just some ideas? I know there was a coffee mug was one of the items in the first box. What kinds of items are we are we thinking about for the future?
00:02:51:20 - 00:03:16:24
Sydney McMurray: A lot of the times we have stuff that's like personally curated items that we sourced from other places, but we put S.V. logos on it. We've looked at key chains, we've looked at lanyards, we've look at bumper stickers, vinyl stickers, all sorts of other things. We put the sunglasses in the mugs in that last box along with, like one of those phone wallets, pretty much anything that you could put a logo on that students would like we've looked into.
00:03:17:06 - 00:03:27:24
Jeff Krakoff: Got it. Now, how does it work with purchasing the items? How much of it is purchased as the business versus things that are contributed from sponsors?
00:03:28:24 - 00:03:54:23
Sydney McMurray: A lot of the times we have the purchasing, so each box is $15 for the student, so we want to have our cost of items below $15, obviously, so we can make a profit. So it really just depends on how many items we can get under that budget. And where we really start to have that intrinsic value in the crate is what the businesses are giving us with their promotions or deals or coupons and stuff like that.
00:03:55:07 - 00:03:57:27
Jeff Krakoff: Got it. So how do you go about finding sponsors?
00:03:58:23 - 00:04:24:10
Sydney McMurray: So to find sponsors we have a business liaison. Our current business liaison is Connor Anderson, who has probably mentioned earlier it's coming up with the idea for Raider Crate. He reaches out to potential businesses in the area and sort of gives them their pitch about offering a chance for this business to get more students in their doors. And we just kind of work it out from there with what they're willing to offer so that we can help them out and they can help us out.
00:04:25:00 - 00:04:37:03
Jeff Krakoff: OK, so the first box has gone out and I suspect the next one will go out in the next couple of months. What feedback have you gotten and what have you learned that you can apply to future crates?
00:04:37:17 - 00:05:03:20
Sydney McMurray: Well, we have learned so much from that first crate trying to work under the conditions that pretty much every small business is working under now has definitely taught us a lot better communication skills between departments. We've also gotten lots of feedback from students and parents, and we know where to target marketing and what kind of items we do or don't like to put in those boxes. It's just overall been a very good learning experience for all of us.
00:05:03:22 - 00:05:04:23
Jeff Krakoff: I'm sure.
00:05:04:25 - 00:05:09:16
Jeff Krakoff: I mean, it's hard enough to start a business enterprise, let alone during a global pandemic.
00:05:09:18 - 00:05:10:08
Sydney McMurray: Exactly.
00:05:10:26 - 00:05:16:03
Jeff Krakoff: So you're really learning. So how can people order a crate?
00:05:16:25 - 00:05:31:18
Sydney McMurray: You can order a crate at raidercrate.org/shop. Or if you just go to our website, there's a link right on the front page. You could also go on to the Instagram or Facebook, and we have posts and links to the website in our bio.
00:05:32:08 - 00:05:36:24
Jeff Krakoff: All right. Well, Sydney, thanks so much for joining us. Good Good luck throughout the rest of the year.
00:05:37:07 - 00:05:38:07
Sydney McMurray: Thank you so much.
00:05:38:23 - 00:05:42:05
Jeff Krakoff: I hope you sell out all the crates from now on.
00:05:42:19 - 00:05:43:18
Sydney McMurray: I hope so too.
00:05:44:04 - 00:05:45:07
Jeff Krakoff: All right. Take care.
00:05:46:06 - 00:05:46:21
Sydney McMurray: Thank you.