In business this is the one sign you never want to see. I can not tell you how many times I have heard well times are slow as I am out selling advertising for La Bonita Kidz and Teenz, www.labonitakidz.com. Each time I hear that I ask well what are you willing to do to change that? The answer I usually receive is I am just going to wait and see what happens. My reply is generally good luck with that as I leave the business or end the conversation. As I walk away I think that business won’t be there for long or that person will be joining another company soon. About 80% of the time I am right. A case in point occurred a few weeks ago when a flower shop owner told me they didn’t need to advertise and they never do print. I wished him luck as stated if he changed his mind to connect with me as I can be of service and value to him. I went by the shop yesterday (7/8/13) and guess what there was an eviction notice on the door and the store was closed. The moral here is if you do not advertise you die. If you wait for something to happen chances are you close your door. If you was to avoid slow times follow the tips listed below as they have helped many businesses who have chosen to work with me to succeed.
Advertisement Ideas: Tips To Avoid Slow Times!!!
1: Eliminate using the term slow by beginning to plan your work and work your plan. If you do not have a strategic marketing plan develop and implement one. A good tool to use is Heidi Richards Mooney’s book, Quirky Marketing Tips. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: How To Avoid Slow Times?
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.
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 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!!!!
Mr./ Mrs. Business Owner It Is Time To Wake The F UP!!!
I can not tell you how many times I wanted to yell into the phone this week “Wake The F Up”, as I encountered many business people who just don’t seem to understand that everyone calling your business is a potential customer or may know someone who can use their product or services. In one instance I called Myotis Salon and Boutique at 9:30 AM and the gentleman answered the phone I introduced my self asking if I could speak to the person that handles the marketing and community outreach and was told you selling advertising I open at 11 AM you call back then. I found this to be strange as I know from my experiences the best time to discuss advertising and marketing is when you are not open so you can devote your time and attention to the conversation and be fully engaged. Think about it had the gentleman been open to receive or polite he would not be in this blog being used as a bad example of conducting business. He could have said sir I would like to speak with you however I am involved with a another project right now please call me after 11 AM. Remember it is not what you say but how you say it. I ask you do you think I am going to recommend his services to my female colleagues who could benefit from his services. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: Mr./ Mrs. Business Owner It Is Time To Wake The F UP!
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!!!
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!!!
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 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!!!
