Advertisement Ideas: The Full Monty!!!

Today’s post was inspired by The Show, The Full Monty, where the cast is definitely maximum exposed. As I reflected on the idea of maximum exposure I realized just how many business people are under exposed with their marketing and media relations and how many do not even have a strategic marketing plan. It is important to put yourself out there and remember that you are your brand and how important it is to figuratively give people The Full Monty. It is imperative that you continuously are out in the community promoting yourself and the products or services you offer and how you are different from others doing what you do. It is also a priority to show people how you are of service and value and why they should be doing business with you. Many people go into business and they do not have a written plan about their marketing and media relations and then wonder why they are not being as successful as the envisioned. If you are going to exceed in business you need to have a plan and work your plan.

Advertisement Ideas: The Full Monty Formula!!!

Know who you want to do business with and know where they get their information and what other businesses they frequent. In knowing where your audience is it will make it easier for you to build your following.

Set up a budget to print and distribute collateral material. Have a budget to do on-line marketing. Have a budget to do video marketing. Remember that marketing is not an expense it is an investment.

There are may things that happen in your business that are newsworthy so having a strategy to get the information out to the news outlets that your target audience is watching, reading, and listening to will play a major role in strengthening your brand and increasing your revenue. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: The Full Monty!!!

Advertisement Ideas: Is Your Brand Memorable?

Advertisement Ideas:Is Your Brand Memorable?

When one sees this logo they immediately know it is Mercedes-Benz and it represents quality and class. I for one have stated that when I amass enough money to get one I will not buy one but instead I will buy a practical vehicle and donate the difference to charities for after all you can not take the Mercedes with you when GOD decides to call you home. I use Mercedes-Benz as an illustration as to how important the idea of having a memorable brand is. Think about it there are certain brands that have stood the test of time by making sure they were in the consumers face on a daily basis with a consistent message. Ask yourself if you are creating a memorable brand?

Advertisement Ideas: Some Memorable Brands!!!

When you ask most people about hamburgers they will mention one of these three as these have become the top 3 recognizable fast food restaurants in the world. Much of this is due to extensive marketing to drive people to these businesses because of the perceived value despite the fact that their food can kill you. I personally prefer Five Guys which does a good job with the use of testimonials in their restaurants. Five Guys is also not the most healthy choice but it is better that the three recognizable brands here.

Another thing that makes Five Guys memorable is the fact that they have differentiated themselves in the market place by creating an image that people have come to know that represents quality and good service. If you were to open up a hamburger place ask yourself how would I create a memorable brand? the answer is simple by flooding the market place with literature about the restaurant and giving the consumer a reason to come and buy your burgers. When you are creating a memorable brand you must determine your desired target audience, create a marketing program that will put you on top of the consumer’s mind, and you must have something that differentiates you from everyone else in your chosen industry.

These are 3 recognizable people in The Personal Development Field. If you are someone who is into personal development you most likely will be able to identify them. They have all created their own identity and have enticed many people to follow their teachings. They share a few things in common they have used strategic promotion to garner interest, they have become their own brand, they taped into their passion and found a way to monetize their passion and create a message that is relevant, entertaining, and resonating with their desired audience. When asked who their target demographic was they were able to give a precise answer this is important to know because you are not going to attract everyone. They also have surrounded themselves with a team of people to handle their marketing and public relations. They have built billion dollar businesses by having a plan and working their plan and never giving up. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: Is Your Brand Memorable?

Advertisement Ideas: Kicking Ass, Taking Names, And Following Up!!!

So you attended an event with the intent of meeting people who would be interested in your product or service, you collected business cards, but you put those business cards aside and waited a few weeks to contact those people. As a result you may not have much success is turning those leads into customers. The idea is to go into all events you attend with the mindset that I am going to kick ass, take names, and follow-up. Today (10/17/2015) I was at an event, The Taste of Tamarac and I was on a mission to promote The South Florida Gold, a professional basketball team that plays in The American Basketball Association. I had an encounter with their executive director as I was exchanging information with the vendors and the vendors were very receptive, but he did not see it that way saying it was inappropriate. I told him it was appropriate and that is what doing business was about and he could go pound sand. He walked away and I went about my business. I kicked ass as I used my talents for good. For those of you who do not know I have an amazing voice for promotions, voice overs and emceeing, and pa announcing and I love to make small promotional videos to help businesses to maximize their message. I haven’t had a business complain yet and those that have posted my promos have done well. I took many business cards and I will follow-up on Monday when I am in the office. The key is that you must follow-up with in 48-72 hours of speaking with some one so that you can strike while the iron is hot. While I was at The Taste of Tamarac I met the people from The American Cancer Society Relay For Life of Tamarac. Again for frequent readers of this blog you know my passion for Relay For Life. I took one of the canisters and simply turned to a lady and asked if she had a $1 to help create a world with less cancer and more birthdays and she gave me a $1. I then said to The Tamarac Relay representatives you see it is just that easy. At the end of the day they had collected $120, not bad for a 3 hour event. I share this to encourage you to have a kick ass mind-set. If you are serious about being successful you must be tenacious and understand some will, some, won’t, so what, some waiting, next. Along the way you are sure to have a few people upset with your tactics hello that is the cost of doing business as not everyone will resonate with your message but many will resonate with your message and want to do business with you. The key is to continually kick ass, take names, and follow-up. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: Kicking Ass, Taking Names, And Following Up!!!

Advertisement Ideas: Doing It and Doing It Well!!!

Have you ever noticed how doing business is much like satisfying a partner while making love. If you don’t hit the right spot and pay attention to your lover’s needs and desires while making love that lover may go elsewhere. It is the same in business if you don’t know what your customer/clients needs or desires are and you do not satisfy them they will go elsewhere. The key is know what you are doing and to do it well. In business like in turning on your lover you have to advertise in the love making game it might mean dressing sexy or playing some soft music to get in the mood to entice your lover. It is the same in business you must advertise to entice the consumer/client and get them to do business with you. Look at the ways you are marketing and how you are reaching your customers/clients. The process starts with knowing who to pursue and how to court the people that you desire to have as clients/customers, then creating a brand so when people hear the brand or see the logo it is easily accessible, then you must do things to create a buzz.

Advertisement Ideas: People Who Are Doing It and Doing It Well!!!

If you were to show this picture to 10 people I believe 7 would know who it is. Despite his perceived arrogance the man in the picture has built a reputation as a great ball player and a savvy business man.

If I showed this photo to 10 people I can almost guarantee that 9 people would know who this soulful singer is. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: Doing It and Doing It Well!!!

Advertisement Ideas: Be Relentless With Your Marketing!!!

I am always amazed when someone makes a comment like JDOGG you are relentless with promoting your projects. I always answer you have to be relentless and promote yourself daily for you never know who you might meet and how that encounter will benefit you. I was booking guests for a TV Show that I hosted, The Anything Bucket, and I booked a leader in the fitness industry, Lisa Dwoskin. Lisa was an excellent guest and after the show I spoke to her about The American Cancer Society Relay For Life of Boca Raton. She was intrigued by this event and as we spoke more she stated she would support it. I had heard this many times before from people who said they would help and yet they did not. I personal messaged Lisa a few times and was pretty relentless with the follow-up and guess what? Today (9/22/2015) Lisa tagged me in a post on Facebook letting me know that she had signed up her team, Metaamorphecise, and that she had secured footballs from Lawrence Taylor and Memorabilia from Dwayne The Rock Johnson and Rocky Johnson. I was very excited to see that my tenacity had paid off.

In marketing this special fundraiser I have been relentless in sharing it all over Facebook and making sure everyone knows about it. My relentlessness has paid off as I have commitments from several people who said they will do this. When you visit www.relayforlife.org/bocaratonfl this fundraiser is on the front page. I share these two examples with you to illustrate to you just how important being relentless with your marketing is.

I recently took a position with Celebrity Sports to help them with their marketing and have increased their reach by being relentless in keeping the name on the top of the consumers mind. I use my 3 foot rule to promote the store. If someone is with in 3 feet of me I will give them a brochure and start speaking to them about the store. Yesterday (9/21/15) I was at Starbucks and a women was hanging a sign for The Walk to End Alzheimers and I began to speak to her about the VIP Shopping Nights at Celebrity Sports, where a charity receives 20% of the sales from a night they choose to shop. She was interested and not only took 1 brochure but took 2 more as she is involved with other charitable organizations. In being relentless and speaking to people I am creating a buzz about the store and thus increasing sales. The key is that everyday you should be out talking to people about your business or making calls to people about your business. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: Be Relentless With Your Marketing!!!

Advertisement Ideas: Don’t Get It Twisted!!!

Today I would like to address all those who have gotten it twisted and who now have to untangle the mess they made. One example is the Town Of Davie, FL who took money over the common good of people for their textile recycling program. The mayor and the city commission basically voted to remove The Salvation Army and Goodwill clothing recycling bins from the city and replaced them with a for profit company. When the mayor was confronted about the money the Salvation Army would lose she denied any knowledge. The media showed her the tape of a Salvation Army Representative stating the negative economic impact that this would have on the organization. She said oh I need to see something in writing. As I watched this story I though couldn’t The Town of Davie, FL had both a for profit and non-profit organizations collecting clothes. Sometimes those in office forget about doing the right thing and get a bit greedy. The Town of Davie,FL stands to bring in $400,000 for their endowment fund over the next 4 years but at what cost to the citizens and those that they were elected to serve. My solution would be to allow The Salvation Army and Goodwill to keep their bins in The Town of Davie, FL and thus allow residents to decide who to give their clothes to thus fostering good public relations while at the same time adding money to the endowment fund. Instead The Town of Davie, FL got it twisted. My suggestion to the residents get active and go to the polls and find new leaders to build your city and who truly put the citizens needs first. The easy thing for the Town of Davie, FL would have been to foster competition and invoke the concept that economic justice can best be won by free men through free enterprise.

There are so many ways that our society has gotten things twisted and now it is up to us look beyond and untangle this twisted mess we have made. Up until 3 months ago no one cared about the Confederate Flag or The Killing of Lions but thanks to the media hype the general public was once again duped into following what the media felt was important. While you were focusing on The Confederate Flag, Gay Marriage, and The Killing of Cecil The Lion The Federal Government passed a law where the origin of your meat products doesn’t have to be identified. I don’t know about you but I like to know where my meat comes from. While many believe Social Security is an entitlement it is not you paid into it and you should get your money. The Bush Administration took over $1 billion from Social Security and never paid it back. If you or I did this we would be in jail. Where is the outage at this? Then we have the idea of Black Lives Matter when we should have a philosophy that all lives matter but again if the government can keep us divided they can control us. Imagine if we all looked beyond color and started working together we could not be stopped. The time is now to stop getting things twisted.

As business and non-profit leaders we must begin to put ourselves out there and speak our truth and not get things twisted. We must stand up and work together so that we can be of service of value to one another by being open to receive and looking for the truth and not allow ourselves to be misdirected by the twisting and manipulation of the media and government. Look at the real issues and become educated so that you don’t get it twisted.

Study and understand the real issues and then walk in your truth to make a positive change in your business life. The truth is that if your business is not aligned with your core values and you are not attracting people who share your core values you will not succeed. The truth is if you are not growing you are dying. The truth is if you do not advertise and your competitor is you are losing customers. The truth is if you do not have a strategic marketing plan you will fail. The truth is if you go with the crowd and try to please them you will fail. The truth is that you can not sell to everyone and not everyone will resonate with you so don’t get things twisted and walk in your truth.

Remember not to get it twisted as you are your brand and you must be consistent in all you do. Many will tell you don’t share your beliefs I say share your beliefs and be authentic so people don’t get things twisted with you. Many times controversy creates cash and helps a business because the consumers tend to support businesses who share their point of view.

Remember that the truth will set you free and to look at the big picture. In the last year we learned Mike Brown wasn’t the choir boy who people wanted you to believe he was, should he have died? No but he should have been disciplined. We learned that some police are overzealous but we already knew that heck the cases I could sight to prove this but we also learned that there are many doing positive things and we must focus on them. So to the news media and government I give this directive to stop getting it twisted.

Advertisement Ideas: Go Fund Yourself!!!

Many people want to be entrepreneurs but they forget the one fundamental principle needed to succeed and that is you must have funding for all aspects of you business. So many people open the doors and don’t have a marketing plan and then wonder why they have no traffic to their brick and mortar business. Part of the reason is that they didn’t adhere to the idea of funding themselves. I have watched countless businesses open only to close their doors with 3-5 months of opening. Those that closed all shared one common thread they did not set aside funds for marketing and advertising. Yes people there is a difference Marketing is primarily done to build brand recognition to put your brand on the top of the consumer’s mind while advertising is done to not only build your brand but to also drive traffic to your business. It is important to fund yourself so that you can have a solid marketing/advertising mix so that you don’t end up shuttering your doors. The key is to set aside money strictly to fund your marketing and advertising campaigns.

As someone who has been involved in some form of advertising and marketing for over 30 years I can tell you that I am always amazed when a business owner tells me they do not advertise and I ask what to you do to let people know who you are, what you do, and why they should use your products or services. I usually hear oh I do word of mouth. Word of mouth is a good start but should not be the form of advertising you do. If you are a local business you should be involved with activities in the community that attract your target demographic. It is important to fund yourself to reach your desired target audience as you do not want to be dog walker advertising in a cat magazine though some cat owners do own dogs. I asked a shoe store owner who his desired audience was and his answer was anyone who needs shoes. My answer was that this is to broad of a statement and that perhaps finding his niche market and planning to fund himself to reach that niche market might be helpful. I remember working for Footlocker and knowing the lay of land of the Wellington area and the surrounding communities. I asked the district manager if my store could have funding for 144 white tall tees in XL and XXL because one of the biggest football games of the year was being played in the area, The Muck Bowl, and the kids from both high schools shopped at The Footlocker where I was an assistant manager and had a tradition of decorating their own shirts. At first he hesitated and made excuses why not to do it and then I said well as a district manager you can fund yourself and he said what and I said you have a district marketing budget why not take the expense for the 144 shirts from there and make a sign for the window Prepare For the Muck Bowl Tall Tees available here. He finally agreed and my store received the 144 tee-shirts and in 2 days sold out. The key is know your audience and deliver what they want and to always find a way to fund yourself. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: Go Fund Yourself!!!

Advertisement Ideas: Get With The Program!!!

When I was kid I would here this phrase quite often as many of the activities that I was involved in were very structured. As I got older and started to venture into the world of marketing, advertising, media relations, and public relations I began to realize that many business people did not understand the importance of these areas and as a result struggled and eventually closed their doors because they did not get with the program. Today as I present opportunities to businesses and non-profit I hear many programmed responses like I don’t have a budget or I am not interested. There have been many times that I wanted to reach through the phone grab the person on the other end and simply yell GET WITH THE PROGRAM!!! I have encountered many people in positions of authority who simply do not get it and then wonder why their sales are down. Such was the case yesterday as I called the sales manager at Lou Bachrodt Chevrolet in Coconut Creek who I had been leaving messages for about The South Florida Gold, a professional basketball team that plays in The American Basketball Association. When I left messages I explained the relationship I had with the dealership and he didn’t return the call. He picked up the phone yesterday and after I introduced myself his answer was I am not interested. I replied sorry to hear that I can really be of service and value to you and I have been a customer of Lou Bachrodt for many years. He then said I don’t have a budget as I allocated all my advertising dollars. I replied I just want to meet with you to see how we can be of service and value to one another. His reply was I told you I don’t have a budget.I said okay I’ll call someone else. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: Get With The Program!!!

Advertisement Ideas: Spread ‘Em Wide!!!

When you read the headline of this entry what was your first thought? Many probably went right to the image of the police officer getting ready to put the cuffs on someone and pat them down. Most conjured up this image as we have been programmed to react in a certain way through media manipulation and the repetition of many so-called norms of our society. When I think of the headline spread ’em wide I think about marketing a frequent and consistent message so that when someone thinks of me they know who I am and what I do and feel comfortable about doing business with me. just as this phrase spread ’em wide conjures up a certain image or picture ask yourself what image or picture does my brand conjure up when people see it or hear it.

Well established brands like McDonald’s and Allstate share one common thread and that is a frequent and consistent presence in the marketplace. A few years back Allstate partnered with The NCAA to sponsor the goal post nets that are put up for field goals and extra points and as a result has increased their brand awareness while also donating to scholarship funds thus creating a picture that they area company that cares about the community. McDonald’s has sponsored many sporting events including The Olympics.

Now you may not have the budget of a McDonald’s or Allstate but you should have a budget to spread your message wide. How many times have you been approached with an opportunity to spread your message and you have found all the reason why not to take advantage of the opportunity and the you see your competition did. As a result clients/consumers may be going to the competition. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: Spread ‘Em Wide!!!

Advertisement Ideas: Stop Missing Opportunities!!!

This blog entry was prompted by a phone call I had this morning (7/31/2015) where I was introducing myself as The PA Announcer and Team Ambassador for The South Florida Gold, a professional basketball team that plays in The American Basketball Association. In this role I am responsible for community outreach and giving businesses and non-profit organizations a chance to form strategic partnerships. As I called a real estate broker whose card was given to me by a colleague I introduced myself and then was told I do not have a budget for marketing to which I replied I just wanted to offer you free tickets to our home opener to which the reply was I am not interested. I hung up the phone and thought wow this is a so called successful business person who just missed out on what could have been a great opportunity as players need housing, staff may be looking for real estate, and our fans may use his services. I run into this type of mentality all the time those who do not see the opportunities and can not see beyond what is considered the normal way to market. The fact is if you are doing what everyone else is doing you will not stand out and you will continue to struggle. You can avoid the struggle by simply listening to people who are presenting unique opportunities and being open to explore a different way of doing things. In being aligned with a professional basketball team you build awareness while having frequency and consistency in the market place.

Think about it you as a business owner can pay $250 and select a game for you and your staff and clients to attend, set up a table at the game to speak to fans, hang a banner, and receive PA Announcements. This is an affordable opportunity and is a form of direct marketing where you can obtain qualified leads. There are many opportunities to advertise and market and you as as a business owner must seek some unique and different forms of marketing and advertising that will help you to stand out in a crowd,

Imagine your name on 250 mini basketballs to be given out at a home game for The South Florida Gold. Your fee to do this $500. All you do is supply the artwork and The Gold gives the basketballs away to its fans. Again a different way to strengthen your brand and create a buzz about your business.

Advertisement Ideas: Don’t Miss This Opportunity To Brand Yourself!!!

In August of 2013 I launched an Internet TV Show, The Anything Bucket, which airs on www.wrpbitv.com. I give business people and non-profit organizations and opportunity to come to The WRPBiTV Studios in Boca Raton, FL to do a 10 minute interview to reach my over 50,000 viewers. I give my guests an opportunity to purchase their clip for $175 that is fully edited with their contact information for them to use across all their marketing platforms. In today’s marketplace video content is very important. I am always amazed when a business person says no or they can not afford it. Again a missed opportunity to which I say stop missing opportunities.

Now the question is what will you do the next time someone approaches you with an opportunity. Will you consider that the person you are speaking with may be selling you today but may be a customer in the future or tat the person you are speaking with may know people that can benefit from your products or services. Remember every interaction is an opportunity to build a relationship and thus create business as people like to do business with those they know, like, and trust. Before you go into your programmed responses think how listening to an opportunity might benefit you. Each time you engage with someone it is an opportunity to share information and possibly attract new business.