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: Confessions Of A Professional Marketer

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

Advertisement Ideas: Donald Trump, You’re Fired!!!

Imagine if you could get on Celebrity All Star Apprentice with your product or service and give Donald Trump a hard time and then say to Donald Trump You’re Fired? Imagine the publicity you would get and how you can leverage your experience in your future advertising programs and in all your literature. It is when you do something a bit outlandish that you are remembered and in many cases you build an audience of people who will do business with you because they admire your boldness. Donald Trump was given a gift from his father and parlayed that gift into what he is now. He has branded himself very well. There are those who really like him and those who do not however he is always in the forefront and garners much desired media attention. Look at his stunts he has been involved with:
Who could ever forget Donald Trumps feud with Rosie O’Donnell. This feud gave both of them a lot of media attention.Think about who you might be feuding with and how this can be turned into a brand building opportunity. Her is South Florida Dolphin Carpet and Tile was feuding with Home Depot and both parties received much media attention showing once again that controversy creates cash.

Donald Trump shaves Vince McMahon’s hair after a hair vs hair match that aired on a WWE Pay Per View with millions of viewers. True it was all scripted but think of how many people saw this and remember Trump for this. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: Donald Trump, You’re Fired!!!

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: Allstar Celebrity Apprentice Shows Value Of Contacts!!!

Advertisement Ideas: Allstar Celebrity Apprentice Shows Value of Contacts!!!

Trace Adkins and the other celebrities had been here before as they were past participants on The Celebrity Apprentice now it cam time to step it up for The Allstar Celebrity Apprentice. Trace was named a team captain and Brett Michaels was named a team captain and they chose sides. Trace I believe made the better choices as he knew the first task was going to be a fundraising task so he chose the people with the best money contacts. Trace’s team won the challenge and raised a record number of dollars for his charity, The American Red Cross. As trace began to call his Rolodex he also made a bold decision to not open the restaurant to the general public and make it exclusive to the celebrity contacts. Trace’s plan worked as a donation for T. Boone Pickens of $100,000 came in and many other donations came in totaling over $400,000. the other team did a great job raising over $200,000, however in the end Brett Michaels was fired. The lesson here is to leverage your contacts.

Advertisement Ideas: How To Leverage Your Contacts!!!

In watching The Allstar Celebrity Apprentice I learned that Donald Trump has a knack for leveraging his contacts. The question now is how do you leverage your contacts?

Are you using your phone to call upon customers/clients that maybe you haven’t seen in a while? Are you using the phone to follow up with someone you met at a networking event. By communicating with contacts you begin to build a network that can help you with your goals and objectives. This week make a list of 25 people who you will call to see how you can be of service and value to them. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: Allstar Celebrity Apprentice Shows Value Of Contacts!!!

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?

Advertisement Ideas: Dominick’s Pizza: What Not To Do!!!

Those of you who read this blog know my affinity for Pizza and you also know my passion about promoting Pizza Restaurants that treat me right when I am asking for help with Relay For Life. Well this is an example of what not to do as illustrated by my recent trip to Dominick’s Pizza. It was about 1:15 PM in the afternoon on a Friday I was out collecting for The American Cancer Society Relay For Life of West Boca Raton and walked into Dominick’s Pizza and was promptly told “We are not interested,” to which I replied I guess you’re not interested in selling me 2 slices of pizza a garden salad and a unsweetened iced tea. I was told no and to leave the restaurant. I guess my purchase and the good will I would have brought to them wasn’t important. Each person I shared this with said the same thing oh Dominick’s their tough. So The lesson here is to realize everyone who walks through your doors is important and has the potential to be a customer and create new customers. Dominick’s gets a fail in this department and will not be receiving any of my business. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: Dominick’s Pizza: What Not To Do!!!

Advertisement Ideas: KISS Delivers Important Message About Building Your Brand!!!

Advertisement Ideas: KISS Delivers Important Message About Building Your Brand!!!!

I remember when I was younger and my younger brother Joshua was a big KISS fan and we would listen to this song. Today as I listened to the lyrics I thought the message is to SHOUT OUT About who you are, what you do, and give people a reason to use your product or services. I started to think why do people buy NIKE Products when there are other brands that are just as good? The answer is because NIKE Shouts the loudest and is constantly on the top of the mind of the consumer. Every where you look during a sporting event NIKE Has some type of presence. NIKE has also aligned itself with very well-known celebrities and athletes to build credibility.

You may be thinking but I don’t have a NIKE type budget. I am here to tell you yes it would be nice to have a NIKE type budget, however you can shout it out loud with your budget. I visit with many smaller businesses on a regular basis and the biggest excuse I hear when it comes to advertising is I don’t have a budget for that. I then ask do you have a marketing and advertising budget and yes there is a difference marketing is about building a brand so that when someone is ready to purchase your product or service they will choose you first. Advertising is promoting offers to drive traffic so you see a return on your investment. Many times I am told no. This is one of my pet peeves as I ask in mind how do you open a business and stay in business without setting aside some money to reach your desired target audience? I have encountered many people who don’t know who their target audience and I then ask them to give me a profile of who their customer is and they say everyone to which I reply your target audience can not be everyone for this is to broad of a spectrum to tackle. One must have a budget and know who their target audience is of they are to be successful. I ask businesses all the time how are you marketing and advertising and they tell me word of mouth. Word of mouth is okay however it must be augmented with other strategies because not everyone who needs your product or service is going to know your current customers. In order to shout it out loud you must have a strategic plan and you must find what your potential clients/customers are reading, watching, listening to, visiting on-line, and what they desire. A great way to shout it out loud is to answer the question of what problem do I solve in my clients/customers lives? Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: KISS Delivers Important Message About Building Your Brand!!!

Advertisement Ideas: WWE Delivers Message Of Branding

Advertising Ideas: WWE Delivers Message Of Branding

Show these images to most Americans and they will immediately tell you that is Dwayne “THE ROCK” Johnson and the World Wrestling Entertainment Logo. It wasn’t always like this as wrestling for years was looked down upon and the crowds they attracted were looked at as being less than desirable. Then it happened Vincent Kennedy McMahon started to formulate ways to take the genre to another level and made his brand appealing to the mainstream. The WWE has capitalized on the popularity of their characters and the appeal of their events to record record earnings and record TV Ratings. Some would say that The WWE is a publicity machine. This publicity machine did not grow to the mamouth proportion it is today simply by putting up a ring and announcing that there will be matches locally, no their leadership sat down and put together a business plan that was very extensive outlining everything that they wanted to accomplish. Today The WWE is a publicly traded company whose stock as of today was trading at $8.55 a share you have $855 you can have 100 shares. It is estimated that it will trade at $10.50 a share by the end of the year.

The WWE has become a champion in the sports entertainment industry by branding itself and aggressively marketing itself. Despite filing for restructuring under the chapter 11 bankruptcy laws The WWE continues to have a following and continues to grow. With It biggest event Wrestlemania, now in its 29th year, The WWE continues to build a fan base and gain revenue as they capitalize on knowing what their fans want. Recently their TV Show Monday Night Raw went from 2 hours to 3 hours and has beaten The NBA and NCAA in the ratings proving that if you appeal to the general public and you market yourself you will be successful. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: WWE Delivers Message Of Branding

Advertisement Ideas: Be Open To Receive!!!!

Advertisement Ideas: Be Open To Receive!!!

In his seminars the first thing Rev. Ernest Chu teaches is the concept of being open to receive. As I thought about this concept I began to think how many businesses may be struggling because they are not open to receive. So many times when it comes to advertising and marketing a business will respond with a programmed response I am not interested, or it is not in my budget, or I tried something like that before and it did not work. Do you see the pattern here? Each response contains a closed word such as not. Each time you say not or turn away from an opportunity you may be closing yourself and your business off from receiving better name recognition, more revenue, and a positive reputation in the community. In today’s market place it is important to understand that everyone you come in contact with can be of value and service to your business. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: Be Open To Receive!!!!