The non-profit I work for is celebrating its centennial next year and we are having a debate regarding how much we should brand our various non-centennial events/fundraisers with our centennial logo/look. I think we should only use the centennial logo as a replacement for our normal logo on none centennial events/fundraisers. Others feel we should use the entire look established for the stationary and kick-off materials for everything during the year.

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Jay’s Answer: As a minimum, use it on everything for the year – it’ll help reinforce your centennial message in all your marketing efforts (even if the event isn’t centennial-related).

I would like to have ideas for Valentines Day promotion for a small community shopping mall. Giveaways, events or both.

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Jay’s Answer: Here are a few ideas to consider:

• Speed dating event.
• Make-a-heart for local orphanage/church.
• Bid on date ($ for charity)
• Make world’s largest heart (using heart candies)

I’m looking for creative ways to boost membership and personal training sales in my health club by holding a member appreciation week. Our ideas so far are daily raffles (daily prizes and a grand prize of a 3 month personal training package), free guests(w/ incentives for bringing guests). All of this will culminate in a health fair w/ speakers, booths staffed by local businesses we are partnering with (for ex. an organic food market) etc. Any ideas for how we can really get some new members and Personal Training out of this?? I really want our members to enjoy it, but my primary objective is generating new business through referrals.

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Jay’s Answer: Why not kick off a season-long contest: lose the most weight (a la The Biggest Loser), the fittest (resting heart rate), the strongest, etc. Blog, Twitter, etc.? each week’s standings. Have the end of the contest be another event, where the winner(s) get substantial prizes (other than the body they’re wanting) – ideally offered by co-marketing partners (a trip to exotic locations, etc.).

I have an abacus and brain gym institute. I want to attract more students to my institute. There is no such training institute in our area. Please help me plan a promotion strategy.

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Jay’s Answer: The key in promoting your business is clearly/narrowly identifying your target market (What gender? What age? Located where? Married/Single? Earning how much money? Etc.) and identifying their major problem (that your business will solve) (Earn more money? Live longer? Etc.). Once this strategy information is clear, then the next step is calculating what the lifetime value of a new client is and the lifetime expenses that you’ll incur for them. The difference is your lifetime profit, and this number is a key to understanding the maximum cost of to acquire them.

To promote to your target market, you need to identify where they are (Online? Subscribe to same magazine? Members of same club? Etc.) and choose the right marketing tools to target them. Finally, you’ll need to use the right offer/ad copy to get them interested in your business.

We are an integrated marketing company that participates in various tradeshows/conferences as an exhibitor throughout the year, specifically in the healthcare realm which normally is very heavily attended by women.

We did paraffin hand wax treatments (play on our organization’s name) at a recent show and it did REALLY well, attendees loved it! But it was cost prohibitive so want to do something a little less involved. Someone at my office suggested oxygen bars or massage chair these seem so overdone.

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Jay’s Answer: Foot massage. Instead of trying to give one to everyone, have people submit their contact information for an hourly drawing. Contact them by cell or post name on board (or require them to be present for the drawing). You’ll need fewer masseuses, and having a relief from walking is always appreciated.

I need to fill 20 wall display cases…but I don’t want it to look like elementary school (e.g.. cut out letters, paper background, etc). This is for an industrial engineering department in a large university. I have some ideas of items to include, such as posters, photos, brochures, posters, etc. but I want it to look professional, not just some papers stapled to a board. Any ideas?

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Jay’s Answer: What’s the purpose of the display: to show people what the department has done, to get more people to take classes, to inspire people looking for a career, to seek donations (for materials, products, endowments), or to advertise an upcoming competition?

Each of these purposes have different presentations, with different wording. For example, you could showcase students that have graduated and place items that they are working on in case.

Or show awards and projects from recent competitions.

Or, show things (movies, posters, blow-apart images) deconstructed and/or being made (for example: http://manufacturing.stanford.edu/)

I’m doing some marketing for an online scrapbooking website. The company teaches online classes for using Photoshop and Photoshop Elements to scrapbook. The owner was asking me if it was worth using PR Newswire.

The company doesn’t do any press at the moment. I just started working for them so I’m planning on reaching out to top scrapbooking sites to cultivate relationships with them. On the PR front though, the owner has a great story and is running a VERY successful business out of her home.

She is trying to attract people to her site who may not even know classes like hers are offered. For example, for the new mom who may want to start scrapbooking her children.

So my questions are…
- Will sending out press releases through a big news service help when it’s such a niche industry? (possible releases include new online classes she just launched, a company who is growing even despite the economy, mom-entrepreneur who mostly runs her business at night, etc.) OR should I just focus on specific media outlets, blogs, etc.
- Will press releases help in her search engine rankings? If so, how?

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Jay’s Answer: Press releases are easy to send out (and for free, if you use: http://www.prlog.org/ http://www.free-press-release.com/ http://www.i-newswire.com/ etc.) but may not provide any results for the website other than a link from the press release to the website.

Better would be to connect with reporters looking for sources for stories (they are already working on) where the owner fits the profile. Consider: http://www.helpareporter.com/ http://www.reporterssource.com/ or http://www.prleads.com/

I am a Realtor going back into the business full-time and in the process of developing a marketing plan. I love considering ideas outside of the box…please let me know your input as good ways to market myself and generate leads in somewhat of a cost effective fashion…

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Jay’s Answer: Start by asking everyone you meet who they would recommend as a Realtor (and why). You’ll quickly develop a list of the people and motivators that people in your area care about. Then, work to become the expert at these things (and study to see what your competition is doing).

Also, join service organizations whose mission you support. People will get to see you as more than just a Realtor, and build a deeper relationship with you.

Our company is turning 10 this year and wanted to boost morale of both employees and distributors. What would be the best possible slogans/taglines we can use to boost morale of both employees and distributors.

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Jay’s Answer: Boosting morale isn’t done with some words – it’s done with actions and stories. If you try to come up with something to inspire, it’ll most likely sound trite or annoying (or both). Instead design craft activities/actions that would boost morale, since actions speak louder than words.

I need a monthly (or bi-monthly) marketing plan for upscale ladies boutique (in the south) during this slow economic time. Right now, we are keeping our heads above water, but I want to replace my usual fashion show/luncheons with events that are more effective in bringing customers into my store during these days of slower financial times….perhaps highlighting breast cancer awareness in some way in October and bringing in a coupon card for a % off during a slow month…I want to be sensitive to the harder economy and yet keep my store alive.

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Jay’s Answer: Bring in local speakers who can talk about a range of topics that would be interesting to your clientele: improving your business appearance, better body language, dating tips, how to balance career/family, PR tricks, etc. Unless you know what problems your clientele are having, you’ll have to guess about the topics (or take a poll). The point is to get people to keep physically coming into your store – and each time they do, there’s a no main display that inspires them.