Advertisement Ideas: How To Drive Business With Effective Advertising!!!!!

Advertisement Ideas: How To Drive Business With Effective Advertising!

 As an advertising executive I am asked all the time, JDOGG how do I know that an advertisement in your magazine, La Bonita Kidz and Teenz will work? My answer is you don’t however I can tell you one thing if you don’t advertise you will be at a disadvantage.  I am asked how do I know the ad will be effective? Again my answer is you don’t that is why I am here to help you to effectively maximize your message. The key is to have fresh ideas that none of your competitors are using so that you stand out from the rest and build your brand.

 One thing to remember is to be creative in your advertising so you will attract business. One idea I gave to an advertiser, who owned a car, was to advertiser Topless Car wash with a disclaimer ( we wash everything but the roof) $12.99 you want the roof done $13.49. This worked as his business increased. When I worked in the bowling industry we used programs from The Bowling Proprietors Association of America to drive business and we did extensive local area advertising to fill the leagues. One promotion I implemented one Summer was Beanie Baby Bowling, where the kids paid $10 for 2 games of bowling, shoes, and a beanie baby. The first week we had 40 people filling 8 lanes by the end of the summer we had 110 bowlers filling 22 lanes with the reaming lane filled with summer league bowlers. When I worked for Footlocker I would take the friends and family coupons and distribute them in the mall and at the local high school, sales increased by 138% when I did that. The key is to understand that word of mouth advertising, print advertising, radio and TV advertising, and social media advertising will work if you are creative. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: How To Drive Business With Effective Advertising!!!!!

Advertisement Ideas: Why A Full Page?

Advertisement Ideas: Why A Full Page?

   As an ad executive and marketing consultant with La Bonita Kidz and Teenz Magazine, www.labonitakidz.com. I am often asked why a full-page. My answer is always because it gives you an opportunity to tell your story because facts will tell but stories sell. The second answer I give is because it allows you an opportunity to section the page  off and promote many things about your business. My third answer is because for $500 + tax you are getting maximum exposure in the market place over a 3 month period of time as we are a quarterly magazine. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: Why A Full Page?

Advertisement Ideas: How To Take A Proactive Stance!!!!

Advertisement Ideas: How To Take A Proactive Stance!!!

 Looking at this list by Stephen Covey one realizes it is necessary to be proactive. The question is how do you take a proactive stance? The answer is  by being awake & aware of what is going on in your market and planning your marketing accordingly. For example  here is South Florida The Miami Heat are facing The Indiana Pacers tonight in Game 7 of The Eastern Conference Finals so doing a special promotion across your social media platforms, a text message campaign, and an email to your contacts offering specials on your products or services related to the game would garner interest.  I was at Smokey Bones on Saturday Night watching Game 6 of The Eastern Conference Finals. The Heat lost and I thought if I was The GM I would have stood by the door and would have handed everyone a FREE Appetizer Card and invited them back to watch Game 7. I then thought if they had a sound system do some contests for prizes creating a buzz and getting people saying I was at Smokey Bones in Plantation and it was awesome they had great food, great service, and I had fun do you want to watch Game 7 with me there?  The key is to look at what you can do to maximize your message, build brand awareness, customer loyalty, and create additional revenue.  Business could of posted signs yesterday wear your Heat gear and receive 10% off of your purchase. If you had a service business such as Life Coaching you could have done a promotion $7 off each session you book today. Taking a Proactive stance and planning your advertising is imperative to having success. How many of you reading this are promoting something for 4th of July?  Are you thinking about Back To School? Thanksgiving? Christmas? or Hanukkah? Chances are you are not and you are blaming others for the fact that your business may be off. It is no ones fault but your own if you are not taking a proactive stance. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: How To Take A Proactive Stance!!!!

Advertisement Ideas: How To Create A Positive Presence In The Community!!!!

Advertisement Ideas: How To Create A Positive Presence In The Community!!!

 What have you done today to let people know who you are, what you do, and why they should use your products or services? Did you send out a tweet, post on Facebook, post on LinkedIn,  post a blog entry, hand out fliers, attend a networking event, make calls to those you haven’t spoken to in a while, sent emails with a special offer, or did you choose to do nothing?  If you are not reaching out to people on a regular basis you are missing out on growth opportunities.   Remember in many cases you get a few minutes to make an impression that will last for a long time.

Advertisement Ideas: The Ways To Create A Positive Presence In The Community!!!!

 The first thing to remember when creating a positive presence in the community is that customer service can make or break your company!!!!

 On Thursday (4/25/13) I was out scouting locations to host a workshop when I went into Lefty’s in Coral Springs. I stood at the bar for nearly 5 minutes and finally walked to where a group was standing in the food prep area and asked if the GM was in I told her that I had been waiting for nearly 5 minutes and by the way 3 people just seated themselves and may need a server.  Her reply was don’t tell me how to run my restaurant. At that point I said I guess I won’t be holding my workshop/meeting here and I left. An employee followed me out of the restaurant and confronted me about going to other restaurants in the plaza. I simply stated I do not want to argue with you I am doing fact-finding. A few moments later the GM came out and confronted me saying I had embarrassed her in front of one of her food suppliers. I stated that is business wishing her Namaste and walking away at which point she called me a liar. I went to my car and thought wow they weren’t that busy but they had time to be confrontational. Guess who won’t be patronizing Lefty’s. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: How To Create A Positive Presence In The Community!!!!

Advertisement Ideas: Your Business Doesn’t Have To Be Slow!!!

Advertisement Ideas:Your Business Doesn’t Have To Be Slow!

  As I sell advertising for La Bonita Kidz and Teenz, www.labonitakidz.com, I hear over and over my business is slow I can’t advertise right now.  I always think why is your business slow? The answer is simple because you are not advertising and you are missing opportunities. I also think the reason your business is slow is you are shutting out ideas because of your programmed response of I am not interested. By not being interested in opportunities and not advertising your business remains slow.  The reality is that your business doesn’t have to be slow. You have the power to drive traffic by being creative and proactive. I have covered this in this blog on several occasions and those who have used some of the ideas have shown a spike in their business.

 Having an awareness as to what is happening in the marketplace will help you to increase your business. Ask yourself what pain do I take away? After you answer this question then you can come up with a plan of action to promote yourself effectively and create a desire for your products or services.  This month baseball season started and I began to think how can one capitalize on the fact that people are going to be following their favorite team for 162 games and how can I use this to my advantage? The answer was to promote things like Pitch Like An All Star, where I teach people how to improve their copy writing and presentation skills. Or Hit a Home Run With Your Publicity, where I teach people how to secure free publicity through effective media relations.  By incorporating the baseball theme you create something that is relevant, entertaining, and resonates with your desired target audience. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: Your Business Doesn’t Have To Be Slow!!!

Advertisement Ideas: Finding Your Why!!!

Advertising Ideas: Finding Your Why?

 

As I sat at lunch today (4/5/13) at The Progressive Black Men National Conference along with Clifford Townsend, a Mindset Coach and Speaker I had the pleasure of hearing a presentation by one of the alumni members about finding your why? As I listened to him speak about brotherhood and finding your why I thought what if a business could convey their why in advertising?

You can visit www.pbm1989.org to find out more information about Progressive Black Men and the work they are doing. You can even consider sponsoring them and having an opportunity to share your why. The key is to define your why.

 In finding your why ask yourself why am I in this business? Ask why I opened my doors this morning? Ask why you are promoting what you are promoting.  I have always stated that facts tell and stories sell. By having a why story you will resonate with people who can relate to you and thus want to do business with you.  I am often asked JDOGG why do you do what you do? My answer is because I have a desire to help other people excel and I have learned if you help enough people get what they want you will get what you want.  I also answer because I know that marketing works for people do business with those they know like and trust. By sharing your why with others they begin to know you, like you, and trust you.  Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: Finding Your Why!!!

Advertisement Ideas: Capitalizing On UF, FGCU, UM And Heat!!!

     

Advertising Ideas: Capitalizing On UF, FGCU, UM, And Heat!!!

As this week unfolds the basketball world is a great place to turn to turn to see how you can drive business.  Capitalizing on the success of UF, FGCU, UM, and The Heat seems to be a simple task as this is what many people are talking about. UF will play FGCU in a sweet 16 match up in The NCAA Tournament, UM advanced to the sweet 16 of The NCAA Tournament, and The Miami Heat are sitting at 26 victories in a row chasing the all time record of 33 in a row.  The key is to find ways you can drive traffic with your advertising and create a buzz to strengthen your brand and build revenue. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: Capitalizing On UF, FGCU, UM And Heat!!!

Advertisement Ideas: Let The Madness Begin!!!!

       

Advertisement Ideas: Let The Madness Begin!!!

Every March college basketball fans become very engaged with The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament filling out and charting the progress of their bracket picks. This had me thinking how are you as a business engaging your customers and keeping them engaged? One way to do this is to do a tie-in to March Madness in your advertising campaign. Have you thought about doing your own bracket contest, offering a special to those wearing their favorite college basketball jersey, or hosting a watch party. Today for example The University Of Miami Hurricanes will face University of Pacific and you could do a special promotion if The Hurricanes win or a contest to win Hurricanes Memorabilia.  The possibilities are endless if you plan your marketing strategy, implement a marketing strategy, and then evaluate how well the strategy worked. Being proactive in the market place is the key to success. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: Let The Madness Begin!!!!

Advertisement Ideas: Put Yourself Out There!!!

Advertisement Ideas:Put Yourself Out There!!!

 

 

I sat at Starbucks today and my phone rang as I went to take the call I noticed a man with Possibility Thinker on his laptop. I went over and introduced myself and we began to talk he told me he was the National Sales Director for SiriusXM Radio and he asked me for my card. I went to my car retrieved my card and a copy of my demo cd. He took them and then gave me a VIP  card for free use for the year. I have always been a believer in putting yourself out there because you never know who you  might meet and who may be of value and service to you or how you might be of service and value to them. Many times people don’t interact and they lose out on major opportunities. I have learned you are not going to resonate with everyone and there are going to be those who are just not ready. This has led me  toa philosophy of Some Will, Some Won’t, Some Waiting, So What, Next. I continue to put myself out there because you never know where what you are doing will led or who you may come in contact with. By interacting with others you may lift them up and they may lift you up and as a result everyone wins.

 One way to win and to put yourself out there is through effective advertising.  Using a 3 foot rule, where you talk to all those who come in contact with you within 3 feet can be an effective way of advertising as you may resonate with those you approach.  having a plan to put you out there is very important as people will see who you are, learn what you do, and perhaps do business with you or recommend people to work with you.  Another great way to put yourself out there is to find publications that reach your target audience and purchase advertising and use the advertising space to tell your story because facts tell while stories sell. Putting ads on the internet, on radio, and TV are effective as long as you are reaching your target audience. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: Put Yourself Out There!!!

Advertisement Ideas: How To Be Perceived Positively In The Market Place?

Advertisement Ideas: How To Be Perceived Positively In The Market Place!!!

 I recently goggled Peggy McColl after hearing her speak at The Superstar Summit in Fort Lauderdale, FL. I found many articles on the front page that called her a scam artist preying on the likes of aspiring authors.Other articles were written by her where she gave advice about becoming a best-selling author.   I have never worked with her nor purchased any of her products thus I can not make a definitive judgement about her, however if I based my decisions on the articles I read I would have to think twice about giving her my money. This led me to the question of what are people saying about you? I also asked what is my reputation like? This then led me to give you tools for creating a positive image in the market place.

Advertisement Ideas: Tools To Create A Positive Image In The Market Place

1: Your greatest tool is yourself and how you interact with others. Maya Angelo wrote the following and I believe this tool can help you in creating a positive image in the market place.

2: Utilize your satisfied customers to tout you with written and video testimonials. If you click on the testimonials on this page you can see what people are saying about me.

3: Address the negative press immediately, For example when I was featured in the newspaper several years ago for a monopoly game that I was developing for The Coral Springs Jaycees that didn’t come out on time. I immediately addressed it and then when the game was produced and distributed a retraction was printed from the initial story. This issue taught me that you must be upfront and transparent especially when dealing with the press. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: How To Be Perceived Positively In The Market Place?