Advertisement Ideas: How To Increase Your Visibility!!!

One of the catch phrases of the last 3 years has been visibility. The question is how do you increase your visibility so you are on the top of the mind of the client that is seeking your product or services? Most small businesses do not have a Nike, Coca Cola, or Budweiser budget and struggle with the concept of getting known. Today I will give you some effective and affordable ways to increase your visibility in the market place. As you are aware I have been doing marketing and media relations in one form or another since I was an 11-year-old. MY quest to be visible began with a backyard carnival for The Muscular Dystrophy Association. My biggest challenge was how would I get people to come to this event? The answer was easy promote it everywhere and anywhere I could. I the kit came posters and I was fortunate to find a local printer to print more for me at no cost in return for me handing out his brochures. I took the posters and hung them at the major supermarket, local restaurants, in my school, and around my neighborhood. When the event was run I had many people in attendance and was able to donate $1,000 to The Muscular Dystrophy Association. I was invited to present a check to MDA on The Skipper Chuck Show. The local newspapers ran stories about me. This was the beginning of how I began to help others increase their visibility.

Over the years I learned that it is important to know that you are your brand. People are doing business with you because they know you, like you, and trust you. The question is how do you create visibility for your brand? There are several ways to create visibility, many include? Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: How To Increase Your Visibility!!!

Advertisement Ideas: 30 Days To Jump Start Your Marketing & PR!!!

Advertisement Ideas: 30 Days To Jump Start Your Marketing and PR!!!

Are you maximizing your message? Are you overwhelmed when you hear Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumbler, Stumble Upon, Vine, LinkedIn? Have you sat down to plan, implement, and evaluate an effective marketing and public relations strategy? I am amazed by the many entrepreneurs who tell me they do not have a marketing plan. I often respond if you don’t know where you are going how are you going to get there. This entry is designed to be a road map on how you can jump-start your marketing and public relations in 30 days. It is based on a track record of success in obtaining media coverage for those who have chosen to work with me. It piggy backs on the concept of plan your work and work your plan. If you want to attract customers/clients you must have a strategy to do so as the idea of build it and they will come as a strategy is becoming less and less effective. Every day you open to accept clients/customers you should be doing something to market your business.

Advertisement Ideas: The 30 Day Plan

Create your message and announce it to your staff. Develop your logo that will be synergistic with your message. Put out a media release to your media contacts and your email list.

Decide where you are going to promote your message, write and send out media releases.

Promote across your Social Media platforms. Choose 4-5 to use and see which gives you the most reach. You can do this daily, weekly, every other week, or monthly. The key here is to give content that will be of service and value to your audience.

Begin to attend networking events and deliver your message then follow-up with the people you spoke to with a special offer.

Create a you tube channel and start posting videos that are relevant, entertaining, and resonating.

Research and find media outlets to advertise with. Make sure all ads have a strong call to action. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: 30 Days To Jump Start Your Marketing & PR!!!

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 Effectively Use Cause Marketing

Advertisement Ideas: How To Effectively Use Cause Marketing!

How many of you went out this week and bought a pint of Penn Jillette Magic Swirtle Ice-cream developed for Walgreens as part of his task as a finalist on All Star Celebrity Apprentice to benefit Opportunity Village? I did and I will probably buy another pint or 2 before Sunday’s Final Episode. As I bought the ice-cream I began to think wow what an effective cause marketing campaign. I then began to ask the question why aren’t more business people using this tactic? The answer was simple it was because they didn’t know how simple a cause marketing campaign is to run.

While I was checking out at Walgreens the register prompt asked if I wanted to donate to The American Cancer Society. I again thought wow great cause marketing. I have witnessed cause marketing and have seen it work very effectively over the last 35 years. I remember the aisles of smiles campaign for The Muscular Dystrophy Association where if you bought certain Proctor and Gamble products they would donate to The Muscular Dystrophy Association. I have seen several programs known as give back nights done with local restaurants with great success. Cause marketing can be a very effective marketing tool if done correctly. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: How To Effectively Use Cause Marketing

Advertisement Ideas: How To Use Print Media Effectively!!!!

Advertisement Ideas: How To Use Print Media Effectively!!!

Many times as I present the opportunity to do advertising in a magazine like La Bonita Kidz and Teenz I will hear I don’t do print advertising or print advertising doesn’t work for me or print advertising is dying. These statements concern me as it shows me that business owners are missing out on what is still a viable way of communication. True the trend over the last 10 years has been to focus more on an internet/social media based campaign as more and more people are seeking information via the internet. However there will always be a segment of the population that turns to print media as they enjoy reading. The trend in the last 5 years has been for advertisers to find the niche newspapers and magazines that reach their desired target demographic and instead of using the shotgun approach to use the single bullet approach.

The first question you must ask is to use print media effectively is what is my target audience reading and what do they respond to. I am always surprised when a business owner tells me their target audience is everyone. This is a big fail because you are not going to appeal to everyone and when doing your strategic marketing plan you need to know who your most desirable client is and what they are reading. For example if you want to reach a 25-54 year old mother, earning 100K+ annually living in a 200K+ home you want to check out www.labonitakidz.com. Knowing who your target audience is will help you use print media effectively. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: How To Use Print Media Effectively!!!!

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: 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: 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