Our clients can be great advocates for us. As such, we’d like to reward them by creating “in-the-loop” special evening events for our best clients. During these events, we’ll gave them a “taste” of some of the new “value-adds” to the service they receive. I’d also like to invite some of our hottest (in terms of buying urgency) prospects to get a taste of being a client and perhaps speak with some satisified clients.

What sort of agenda would you recommend? Ideally, I’d like to have it in-house so they can meet our employees, etc. Budget is fairly small, but I’d like to make it fun/somewhat informal.

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Jay’s Answer: If you want your clients to feel like VIPs, don’t just try to sell them more services, teach them something about how to use your services more effectively. For example, have one of your clients that recently had “wow” results, share their tips with the other clients. That’ll position you as the expert, and give extra exposure to one of your clients. That’s a great win-win.

My company’s name is yellO.pk… It is a social network which is a map based information portal of the city. It has 4 major sections. Blogs, Events, Business and Classifieds. We want to run scroll ads on cable Tv… You know like the way bulletins are running on news channel.. We have a 40second slot, where we can show 5slides of 8seconds each..

yellO, Blogs and events can be combined if required. I need 4-5 words for each of the 4 sections…

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Jay’s Answer:

• The newest FREE buy/sell marketplace. yellO.pk
• The newest FREE business listings. yellO.pk
• The latest local events. yellO.pk
• What’s Happening? yellO.pk

I am finding myself with a creative block. The company I work for, MJ Harden, is a geospatial services provider – aerial photography, digital mapping, and GIS. We are exhibiting at an important industry trade show in April in Phoenix, AZ.

I am trying to develop a theme idea from either our tagline – which will appear in new panels for our pop-up booth or develop an subtheme that plays off the show’s theme which is “Not Your Father’s GIS Conference.”

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Jay’s Answer: Get a very small, battery-powered, remote-control, small camera-based airplane (or helicopter) with an onboard wireless camera. Run it during the conference, with a live feed from it running to displays in your booth.

Tie this into a contest – capture images of a person once an hour from the camera, and if that person comes to your booth within the hour, they get a prize.

I am a new business who is on a tight budget. I am considering postcards as a cost friendly way for me to start marketing. I create cakes made from towels, diapers and other cloth items and decorate them with things that the receiver can use. This is very much like a gift basket. I am trying to target new business and have no idea what type of wording to put on my postcard to grab peoples attention. These gifts can be given for any occasion, but are especially beautiful for baby and bridal showers. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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Jay’s Answer: The problem with a single postcard mailing is that the recipients are unlikely to suddenly think, “That’s just the gift I’m looking for!” Since you’re offering something best tied in to certain life events, target the organizations that people go to first: baby stores, party stores, florists, etc. Work with your local organizations to start with. If you don’t already have a website, create one. That’ll help people looking for these gifts as well.

I work with a Telecom Service Provider who is launching their services very soon in the market. We have received a list of Vanity/Fancy Mobile Numbers that are available for us to use to create some impact – in terms of revenue, subscriber growth or even PR/Goodwill. Could you give me some Out-of-the-Box suggestions on how to use these numbers?

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Jay’s Answer: Have a nationwide contest. People write an essay on why their company or non-profit should get these numbers (publish them for all to see). The winner gets not only the numbers but also free telecom for a year. Nationwide voting will follow based on your selection of the top entries. You could also charge a nominal fee for entrants, with 100% of the monies raised going to a specific charity.

I have a footspa and waxing salon name SPA 101 with a pink feet in the middle of the words spa 101. So its Spa 101 footspa and waxing salon.

We are thinking to change the name to Pampered – Nail Spa and Waxing Salon and come with a better tagline. I feel the name spa 101 footspa and waxing salon needs to be changed because when we removed the banners we are getting male clients instead of ladies who are our core clients.

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Jay’s Answer: Are your male clients recommending your services and/or returning? If so, then maybe you’ve stumbled upon a new business opportunity and can sell to them.

If the banners were bringing in people and covering your expenses, then why not put them back and continue to get clients? You may need to focus not just on your banners, but also increasing your repeat business.

I am searching to sponsors to organized the event but I don’t know how to get them.

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Jay’s Answer: Think from the sponsor’s position. Why should they provide money or in-kind donations to you? How will it benefit them? Why should they align themselves with you? How many people will see your event? Who are they? What ages? Located where? That’s the sort of information a sponsor is looking for.

The City is holding a community workshop to discuss density and intensity of future buildings in the downtown district. The public’s input is extremely important. We need a snappy tagline to place on the poster that will catch the attention of the citizens and hopefully get them to the workshop.

The other problem is a few years back the City went through a long process to form a redevelopment plan of the downtown. The redevelopment has yet to occur and we are afraid that the citizens may be burned out.

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Jay’s Answer: This is a common problem, since people sit on the sidelines and only when their lives are impacted do they come forward in a big uproar. People are busy, and want to make sure that they provide input that matters, at the right time, so their lives are improved (or, at least not negatively impacted).

I’m not sure a tagline will be sufficient for your efforts, though. You want to say something like: “Speak Up Now! (Or, forever hold your tongue)” or “It’s Easier To Write The Future Than Undo The Plan”.

Our telephone company turns 50 this year, and we want to kick off the celebration at our annual company meeting (65 employees attending). Any ideas of how to make this fun? Our meeting theme is “Technique Follows Technology”. Thanks!

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Jay’s Answer: Do you have an internal “museum” of products? Are you near a telephone museum (such as http://ellsworthme.org/ringring/)? In addition to showcasing how much has changed in 50 years, you could have games of switchboard operator (using phone plugs), or identify what area code corresponds to what region of the company 50 years ago. And of course, a contest for best imitation of Lily Tomlin’s Ernestine.

I have recently taken my first baby steps in the world of blogging …I want to know some methods or tips to increase the traffic for my blog.I know there are 100 of methods suggested by internet.

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Jay’s Answer: Start with figuring out who you want to read your blog. Where are they located? What age? What do they do for a living? Why would they care about (or enjoy) your writing?

The reason this is important is you’re trying to get more of these people to read your blog. Next, figure out what else these people are likely to read, and become a frequent contributor there – sharing your wisdom as appropriate and/or contacting that blog/company to mention your blog.

Make sure your blog is listed in various blog databases, so people can find your blog when searching. And decide if you’re simply writing articles or trying to build a conversation between you and the reader.