I am looking to develop a merchandising strategy for a University Athletics team. Currently there is a limited selection of merchandise available, however I am looking for a method to build interest in the items already there, not develop a new product line. The challenge is the University’s teams are not very good, and as such, the attendance and participation at the games by student is still fairly small. Any thoughts… ?

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Jay’s Answer: If you want an edgy approach: have contests to modify the apparel to convey the feeling of the team by the students.

Have an anonymous student daily find someone wearing the team’s clothing, take a picture of them (for the school paper), and give them a gift certificate (for food, iTunes, etc.). This ongoing contest might stimulate new purchases if the promotion got some school-wide coverage.

Sell to alumni. They might remember the “glory days” of the teams. Offer them as part of a package for reunions.

Give them as gifts to prospective freshmen, or have a special area that tours take prospects to to get their college shirt.

We are a small retail company that sells locally made products, souvenirs, and gift baskets. We have opened a new downtown location in a mid-size city with multiple hotels in close proximity. We have been brainstorming ideas about how to develop a rewards program for the hotels to encourage them to refer their guests to our store.

So far the only good idea we have is to give the hotels business cards with our info and possibly a discount or some sort for the customer. The card would also have the hotel name on it and when the guest comes to the store, they would give us the card and we track how many referrals have been given from that hotel.

This idea is the only functional one we have come up with. Please give any input on this idea, positive or negative or a completely different idea. I am very new to the industry and would appreciate any advice!

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Jay’s Answer: Focus on the reason for someone who’s staying at a nearby hotel to come to your store. Is it for a souvenir of their stay or a last-minute gift?

If you have attractive gift baskets, then see if there’s a public space (ideally, behind glass) in the hotel lobby that you could put your baskets in with your card.

A rewards program is just too hard to manage in your case. When someone new purchases from you, ask them if they’re staying at a local hotel, and if so, which one (and/or “How Did You Hear About Us?”). Then call the hotel (or write) to thank them for their referrals at the end of the month. If you want to make the referral tangible, gift the front desk & concierge with something you sell or a gift card for them to use (and visit your store).

Likewise, ask the local hotels for brochures of theirs to leave in your store. You can put them in a book (”Where To Stay”), etc.

I am operating a web design agency that is focused on corporate web designs. Our target market is Real Estate companies, corporates and middle sized companies. We are using Google Adwords and Adbrite.com. Now we plan to place print ads. In which Business Magazine we should place ads?

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Jay’s Answer: Focus on one niche at a time. I would start with real estate companies, creating a landing page that targets them instead of your generic (”we do logo, web, and branding design”) message. Sell the solution - a great logo, website, branding helps attract customers short- and long-term, etc.

Corporate and middle-sized companies most likely do this work in-house, so you’ll be less likely to find opportunities there. However, if you focus on a niched middle-sized or corporate company, and know that you have a special service that it’s unlikely they have in-house, then by all means fill the need.

As for print magazines - don’t place ads in general business magazines. Place them in magazines that your niche reads. What do they read? Ask them.

Also, make sure you get your keywords in alignment for your niche’s search. You want to be easy to find.

I was asked to give a 45 minute presentation to 5-10 members of our group about a project you completed in the past that you are particularly proud of.

It has been scheduled in the morning, before my meetings with other interviewers. What I should include in my slides? Self Intro, Project background, project team, project overview, process, accomplishments and Q&A, what else? I plan to do 30 minutes’ talking and 15 minutes Q&A. But still, it is not that easy to cover 30 minutes without getting into too much details.

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Jay’s Answer: Skip the slides (or keep them to just a few). You want people to be focused on you. I don’t know what position you’re interviewing for, but consider what key piece of information you want to impart in your presentation (other than “hire me”). Then, tell your story. Make the story personal. What enthusiasm can you muster? What pain could you share? Slides full of buzzwords, graphics, etc are a distraction - people remember a story. If you don’t have story, provide analogies. But describe the problem that existed, how it was uncovered, what your thought process was about it, how it was solved, the new problems that you found during that process, the solution, the short-term result, long-term result, and knowing what you know now, would you do the same project in the same way again.

Don’t wait until the last 15 minutes to let them talk. Let them ask questions to help focus your story. If you get your story down, they’ll be enthralled.

If there is anything that scares me, its the thought of starting my business and then having it totally fail! I am starting my own wedding planning business in the Toronto area. I’ll be a certified coordinator (some are not!) with no “experience.”

So my question is, how do I sell myself? I have done 3 weddings (all for free - friends and family), but they were all done before I even thought of becoming a WP, so I don’t have a portfolio. Who is going to want to hire someone without that PROOF of “experience”? If you look at the competition, they all say the same thing “…has done X amount of weddings” or “over 15 years experience…” - I don’t have that.

I was thinking of starting out with a cheaper price than the other companies (average 10-15% of total wedding budget), but then… how much cheaper? Then I was also wondering what kind of special offers I can give out for signing with me… maybe a day at the spa, a gift certificate for a vendor, etc. but would that work?

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Jay’s Answer: First, if your new business must succeed for financial reasons, then don’t start it in the first place. A new business is by definition, a risk.

Next, to increase your chance of success, start with a strategic plan. Who are you targeting (demographics, location, etc.)? What problem are you solving? Why should they trust you, etc.? Who are your competitors? Study them - know what they know.

Everyone once was a beginner. Hiring someone new is a tradeoff - they have less experience avoiding the inevitable bumps but more invested in the outcome (to build a portfolio).

Don’t start by advertising “I’m inexpensive”. That screams the wrong message.

I’ve been researching meta tags and it’s a little frustrating. There seems to be a lot of conflicting advice out there. What is your take on what you want your meta tags to reflect in order to optimize your search engine results?

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Jay’s Answer: Meta tags can matter, but remember what you really want are the right people finding your website easily (and then converting them to customers).

Focus on value on the copy of the website itself. The home page should be focused around the problem the “right” people are searching on by analyzing web search volume in the past few months. Spend your time crafting the page so it immediately speaks to the needs of the prospect. Yes, make sure that the keywords that people search are are sprinkled throughout the page naturally, but don’t sacrifice human-readability.

Once the site is ready for traffic, then get your site registered with the search engines and get links to your website organically (i.e, without paying for them)(Website placement is based on authority, and one of the metrics of authority is link quality/quantity). You don’t want traffic until you have a site that’s effective.

SEO is an art, hence the wide differing opinions on the techniques.

I run an online marketing and web solutions company called “Whirlwind”. We are into web strategy, online campaign management, SEO/SEM, etc. and also offer customized web solutions including site/blog development. As of now, we do not have any tagline for the company, and I would like to ask the members here is they can help us come up with something good.

I am ideally looking at a three-beat advertising slogan, which can add a lot of punch. We figured that this would be needed because the name of our firm doesn’t directly imply what kind of services we offer. So a persuasive/intelligent tagline or slogan would help.

A coupla examples of a three-beat advertising slogan:
1.The few, the proud, the Marines
2. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

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Jay’s Answer:

• Business Problems? We Strategize. Web Results.
• Your Business, Online, Everywhere.

The tagline should mention a key benefit of working with you. Web strategy (etc.) are services, not benefits. Here’s my tagline thinking:

Your Business, Online, Everywhere =
your business - makes the tagline personal to the reader. Removing “your” may work, but it strips the tagline of a “voice”
online - your specialty
everywhere - where the client’s company will be seen.

Note: online/everywhere may appear to be redundant, however many businesses are online, but aren’t visible. What Whirlwind focuses on is the online marketing.

Along the same lines:

• Be Online. Be Seen. Be Successful.

I am on the fundraising committee for my daughter’s school field trip to Washington DC. I have a list of things that I have brainstormed but just wondering if you have any ideas or examples of non-profit fundraising?

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Jay’s Answer: There’s the indirect and direct form of raising money. Indirect things are “buy this product/service from me, and it’ll help me get closer to our goal”. Direct things are “sponsor our trip to DC and we’ll have your (business name) on our bus’s banner (or our trip t-shirts)”.

Direct things can leverage your time. A few good sponsors can be the equivalent of selling 1000 brownies.

We are a small production studio that just released a series of non fiction DVDs. Our target audience is guys and girls ages 17 to 26. I am currently thinking of possible advertising avenues to place our product in front of our target audience — any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Our advertising budget is quite small at the moment, so the best strategy for us would be to start with inexpensive advertising and use the profits to move on to reach more people in more expensive mediums.

This is the current list I am considering:

• Nightclub/Bar Bathroom Ads
• Direct Response Infomercials, Radio Ads
• Print Ads
• Mall Kiosks
• Banner ads on social networking sites

Are we on the right track here? Are there any other possible ways to advertise in malls or nightclubs? What other ways can we reach 17 to 26 year old guys and girls?

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Jay’s Answer: I’m assuming you’ll also have a website.

If your business is local/regional, the local nightclubs, malls, etc. make sense (don’t forget movie houses). But if you’re not limited, then the internet. Don’t forget free things like press releases (if you have something newsworthy/useful), sending press kits to key media influencers, and video teasers (on video sites - make sure your teasers have your website clearly listed).

I sell advertising in a tourist destination area at grocery stores.Trying to get info or research to show locale business in this area it will benefit them to advertise locally and just not out of the area.

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Jay’s Answer: It sounds like the goal is to have a location in the grocery store to advertise local businesses for tourists.

First, what’s the competition for getting food & snacks in the area? You’re competing with grocery stores, vending machines, hotels, etc.

Second, the location in the store - will it be visible? How do you know?

Lastly, what other locations are advertising hubs for tourists. These are also your competition.

The best measure of effectiveness is actual testimonials. Are you existing advertisers getting business from the display? How much more business? That’s what prospective advertisers care about.