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:Confessions Of A Professional Marketer!
I must confess that I do not know everything, however I have come to learn that I know more than most when it comes to marketing. I have observed that there are many people who have a great idea but have no clue as to how they are going to get people to buy into the idea and support their vision. I have had a very interesting week as far as dealing with people who wouldn’t know a marketing strategy if it came up and bit them on the butt.
I received a call on Tuesday (3/12/13) from a gentleman about doing some media relations work for an event he was planning.I was very excited as the event was benefiting troubled teens and I am always open and receptive to helping children. I told him my rate, he initially agreed to pay the fee so I immediately began to work on the release. I delivered a proof to him via email only to have a scathing email sent back that he and his business associate were un impressed. I called and was told what I had delivered was crap(he actually used harsher language), I offered to rework the release and he told me he already did that. I asked him for partial payment a sI did put time into writing the original. He refused to pay saying I didn’t deserve anything. I did the right thing and sent a make good at no charge for at the end of the day I must be a man of integrity. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: Confessions Of A Professional Marketer
This Sunday, February 3, 2013 millions of people will be gathering for Super Bowl Parties across the country. Have you created a way that you can leverage The Super Bowl to drive business to you this week? Have you planned a strategy to capitalize on people’s love for The Super Bowl? Every type of business be it life coaching, personal training, a restaurant, a dry cleaner, a doctors office, etc. can benefit from doing some type of promotion revolving around The Super Bowl and thus creating more brand recognition and more revenue. Think about it you are a life coach and seeking more clients, how about an ad campaign that revolves around the theme Score A Touchdown In Your Life With Life Coach _______. Begin a program by 2/3/13 and recieve $50 off of your program. You are a personal trainer you could do a campaign with the theme Hoist Your Own Lombardi Trophy when you enroll for a fitness and wellness program with________________. You have a restaurant and you can run a campaign Score An Extra Point With Our Desserts, receive one FREE Dessert with purchase of an entree. You are a dry cleaner your campiagn can be Look Like An MVP with __________________. You are a doctor’s office you can do a campaign Let Us Be The QB For Your Health. As you can see if you come up with a creative theme and then put advertising out there you will leverage The Super Bowl.
As a business you can leverage The Super Bowl by participating in POINTS FOR THE CURE!!!! The way it works is you have your clients/customers/patrons choose either The Ravens or The 49 ERS and they agree to donate $.25 (25 cents) per point that the team scores and then after the game they visit http://main.acsevents.org/goto/jdogglederman and make their donation mentioning your business in the comment area. You as a business then do a media release about how you and your clients/customers/patrons participated in POINTS FOR THE CURE and raised money for The American Cancer Society. You then do a thank you ad as part of your print campaign and thank everyone for supporting POINTS FOR THE CURE and helping to raise money for The American Cancer Society. When you leverage an event like The Super Bowl you can strengthen your brand and increase revenue. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: Leveraging The Super Bowl
Advertisement Ideas: Greetings, Salutations, And The Bottom Line
It was a Wednesday Morning a week before Christmas when I found myself out making sales calls for La Bonita Kidz and Teenz with the owner and ceo Shanta Tanksley as we are gearing up to launch the magazine in March 2013. We both knew it would be difficult as most business owners were not thinking of marketing let alone planning their marketing for the Spring of 2013. We encountered many people who seemed pre occupied who seemed to think that we were imposing on their day when in reality we were there to help their business. One particular encounter at Third Federal in Coral Springs, FL as we walked in we were immediately greeted with a women standing up and saying NO SOLICITING. My response was mam we are not soliciting we are meeting with local businesses to start to build a relationship so as to see how we can be of service and value to one another. I also made it a point that we could have just come into money and were looking for a bank. She began to explain that corporate instructs them to do this when it appears that someone maybe soliciting. She then gave us the branch manager’s card. Shanta said to me you are amazing you kept your cool and made a great point. We both came to the conclusion that many businesses are missing out on potential by not understanding how greetings and salutations affect your bottom line. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: Greetings, Salutations, And The Bottom Line
Advertisement Ideas Finding and Capitalizing On PR Opportunities!!!
I have posted this question before as I ask it on several occassions as I speak to people who may want to work with me and put my knowledge and expertise in this field to work for them. I have been developing ways to maximize messages for several years and I am always astounded by those who are not taking advantage of Public Relations Opportunities. This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend The Women of Faith Conference on Friday Night (10/26/12) in Sunrise, FL I was very impressed by World Vision and their presence at the event, I stopped by The Liberty University Booth to learn more about them. All the while I was loaded with literature about The Addict’s Mom (one of my clients) to hand out as I knew many of the 6,000 women in attendance may know a mother of an addicted child and may be seeking assistance for that person so I made it a point to talk to people and promote www.addictsmom.com.
As I left the Women of Faith Conference I began to think how many businesses missed out on an opportunity to promote themselves because they did nor know about the event or were so busy blaming the economy and other factors that they missed out on an opportunity to build their brand and strengthen their business. I then cam up with the idea to encourage everyone to visit www.womenoffaith.com and to see when one of theses events is coming to your community and how it can be a benefit to you and your business.
On October 27-28, 2012 I had the pleasure and honor of being The Public Address Announcer at The Sean Taylor Classic, The SUPER BOWL for Youth Football. As I announced the sponsors I began to think how many businesses could have benefitted from being part of this event if they had known about it. In two days over 2,000 people came through the gates to watch youth football. I had the opportunity to cut a video with the help of Generation Next and I immediately put it up on face book. As I have often said if make videos when ever you are at a special event and share them.
Advertisement Ideas: How To Find and Capitalize on PR Opportunities?
I am often asked JDOGG how do you find and capitalize on PR opportunities? Here are a few strategies that I have utilized to do just that.
1: Be aware of what is going on in your community and see if it is synergistic with your business and your message.
Look on the internet for special events in your area, talk to you customers about things they may be involved with and how you can be of assistance. Many times it is just being in tune and having a presence at events that will build your brand.
2: When you attend an event be prepared to do a quick video like this one.
3: Take photos and create a story to send to the media. For example the photo below with a brief story.
JDOGG Lederman Honors Community Leaders and Creates A World With Less Cancer And More Birthdays.
On March 24, 2012 The Unity Church Fellowship Hall was buzzing with joy as JDOGG Lederman hosted The Spiritual Entrepreneurs Visionary Awards, honoring outstanding community leaders for their service to the community. Proceeds from the event went to The Reaching Out To Cancer Kids Program of The American Cancer Society. 50 community leaders were honored and treated to a very special lunch provided by Subway and deserts provided by Chocolate Luxuries. The day consisted of fellowship and speakers on a variety of subjects. For more details about supporting events like this call JDOGG at 954-254-8227.
4: Find ways to provide products and services for events or how to capitalize on existing programs. For example The American Cancer Society has a program for Relay For Life, Stars and Moons, where merchants sell the Stars and Moons to customers/clients and the merchant displays them in their business. You can take a photo of the Stars and Moons with a caption (Insert your business name here) supports The American Cancer Society Relay For Life Program and recent raised (insert dollar amount) to help with research, education, advocacy, and services. “Our reason to participate in this program was driven by the fact that many of our customers have been touched by cancer and we felt this was an excellent way to give back while helping those affected by cancer,” said (insert name here).
5. Use your social media platforms to engage people and ask about ways you can be of service and value. Post how you are being of service and value to others.
Public Relations is not something that is done once in a while it is something that can be done everyday.
Every day you have something noteworthy happening in your business it is imperative that you share and capitalize on public relations. For example a local Dentist is opening up his practice from 8 PM – 10 PM on Halloween to x-ray candy, it is a shame that this has to be done. The dentist has been written about in several local papers, featured on the local news, and interviewed on the radio.
This chart will help you to find and capitalize on PR opportunities.
Advertisement Ideas: Forget The Salesman Approach!!!
When discussing sales people I often hear they are pushy, full of themselves, and will say anything to make the sale. This perception has led to many people programming themselves to say I am not interested from the first interaction. Sales is an integral part of any business be it a sole proprietorship or a large corporation a brick and mortar business or a home based business and mastering sales is a key to success. I have found that over the years it is important to overcome the perception of being a salesman because of the misconceived notion that sales people are sleazy and out for themselves. The best way to avoid being perceived in a negative way is to forget the salesman approach and become more interested in the people you are interacting with.
The first thing you are instructed to do in sales is to make cold calls. I believe this is the wrong approach as you can see from the chart that most people are not receptive to cold calls. Cold calls can be a part of the process, however there is an art to the cold call. In my 20 plus years of experience in the for profit and non-profit sectors I have found that when cold calling it is best to simply do your research and find out who the decision maker is, this can be easily done by google searches or using sources like The Hoover’s Guide To American Businesses. Many times know who to ask for will get you past the gate-keeper. I also suggest you get the gate keepers name and make friends with him or her so next time you call they will put you through. After you get to the decision maker do not begin your pitch right away tell them that you chose to contact them as you are looking to assist businesses like theirs and would like to set up an appointment to show them what you are offering. The appointment can be done via phone or in person if they are local. The key is to begin a relationship as we all know people will do business with those they know, like, and trust. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: Forget The Salesman Approach!!!
When doing your story the important question to ask is are you media worthy? Most entrepreneurs have a great back story, however they forget to tell it and thus miss out on the media exposure as they may not believe it is media worthy. Every story you have to tell is media worthy. Remember it is not what you say but how you say it. The steps to make your story media worthy are:
1: Frame Your Story – Like a picture you want to make sure your story is relevant, entertaining, and resonating. For example October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I lost a cousin and an uncle to breast cancer(yes men get breast cancer), I am involved in The Relay for Life, I have raised over $8,000 in the last 8 years, and in 2008 was awarded The Hope Award from The American Cancer Society South Palm Beach Unit. This year I implemented a fundraising program called Points For The Cure. Now I have framed the story.
2: Have A Catchy Headline With Keywords – After you frame the story you want to come up with a catchy headline that includes some keywords so when you put it out it will get picked up and looked at online and offline.
3: Write Your Story With Keywords – As you begin your story make sure you have keywords in the first sentence and through out the story so it will be ranked high in search engines as most publications now have digital versions online.
4: Proof the Story and Begin to Post Throughout All Your Platforms- Once you finish your story and you begin to post it you will see the results and you will begin to increase your worth in the eyes of the media. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: Are You Media Worthy?
Advertisement Ideas: Community Service As A Public Relations Tool
As I watched The NFL games on Sunday October 7, 2o12 and promoted the idea of Points For The Cure, where you pledge 25 cents for every point your team scores and then you visit http://main.acsevents.org/goto/jdogglederman and make your donation, for example The Giants scored 41 points so you would go to the site and donate $10.25, I began to think how community service can be used as a Public Relations Tool. I started to think how beneficial the relationship The NFL has with The American Cancer Society is as they have partnered to promote mammograms through The Crucial Catch Program and how many fans attended a game knowing that a portion of the ticket was going to help their local American Cancer Society. I also began to think about the increased merchandise sales as fans would want the football or lapel pin or other items commemorating Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This becomes a great public relations tool as people have a good feeling about The NFL and are more apt to buy tickets and merchandise. You might be saying but I don’t have the budget of The NFL to do all this. Well you do not need a very large budget to us Community Service as a Public Relations Tool. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: Community Service As A Public Relations Tool
Everyone is so quick to judge and say hey you have an attitude problem that they are missing out on opportunities to make a positive difference in their personal and professional life. I was exploring the attitudes of those in business that I perceive to be successful and I have found that they are positive, non-judgmental, and are open to receive. I believe that many times an entrepreneur who blames the economy or other factors and doesn’t look for the opportunities as they are being presented and puts up excuses and blockages often finds themself in a heap of trouble. I have seen many entrepreneurs in the last year struggle not for anything else but because of their attitude.One entrpreneur was complaining and bad mouthing his competition and I began to think if that is how he speaks about them how is he speaking about me, as a result I stopped doing business with that person and when I see that person it is a cordial hello and nothing else as his negativity is not something I choose to engage in. I have been told on several occasions by people you have an attitude problem and I say thank you for pointing that out. I have an attitude that in some case may rub someone the wrong way as I am extremely outgoing, I am overly confident, and I speak my mind for some they just don’t how to handle this for others appreciate it and applaud and celebrate it, which has led to my idea of Some Will, Some Won’t, Some Waiting, So What, Next. I have learned that I will not resonate with everyone, however those that I do resonate with will want to do business with me. To those that choose not to for whatever reason I say their loss. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: You Have An Attitude Problem
I can not tell you how many times I have wanted to verbalize the sentiment of what do you mean no? This generally is a feeling when O am representing what I believe to be a great opportunity for a business like an opportunity to be part of www.forestofangels.com and be part of an event that is changing lives by creating an event where the Westfield Broward Mall in Plantation, FL will host Forest of Angels an event where businesses pay $1250 to sponsor and decorate a Christmas Tree and then choose the charity to be associated with the tree. The patrons at the mall then choose the best decorated tree and that tree’s charity is given $10,000 to further its mission and the remaining money is split amongst the other charities. The mall anticipates that 1.1 million people will visit the mall during the event. I was told I don’t have a budget to do this by a very large assisted living facility. I felt like saying you charge $5000 a month for a person to live at your facility and you can not see your way clear to invest $1250 in the community, what do you mean no? Then I realized this is why their occupation is down and their revenue is down and why they are on a downward spiral.It is not that the economy is down it is that they keep saying no to opportunities that are presented. If a new client represents $60,000 a year and you don’t spend at least $6,000 a year to attract that ne client you may remain stagnant because you said no.
I used to hear no a lot about advertising and marketing when I would sell print advertising as many business owners simply did not understand that advertising is an important aspect of their business. They would make all types of excuses and in many cases I would go back to visit only to find their business closed and boarded up with no forwarding information. I would thing again to my original question what do you mean no? I am not saying to say yes to everything but to look at things that make sense like www.forestofangels.com. www.feelthehugs.com, www.relayforlife.org, and other opportunities that may be synergistic to your business. It is when you are open to receive that great things begin to happen.
You can choose where to shop and where to spend your advertising dollars and many times you may say no only to realize that you should have said yes. Imagine your name on the speaker next to the choir, or your name on the table, or a poster above toys for tots or your name on the shopping cart. These are a few out of the box methods that work as everyone stopping by Macy’s or the food area, or dropping off a toy, or shopping would see you. Now take it a step further when people walk through Forest of Angels at The Broward Mall and see your competitor and shop your competitor because you turned down a great opportunity. So think about it and ask yourself what do I mean no?
It is proven when you give you get. People love to do business with those they perceive to be giving back to the community so supporting Forest of Angels makes sense. Visit www.forestofangels.com
