Monthly Archives: August 2008

What ROI Could I Expect From My Local Business Seminar?

Starting Out

I was wondering if anyone knows about the ROI that can be expected from performing a seminar to local businesses about a topic that relates to our business.

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Jay’s Answer: If people attend, then they’re interested in the topic, and potentially your business. Unless you’re planning on renting out a hotel and providing a full meal, it’s a low-risk investment. The key is to provide information to position yourself as experts. Even if you don’t get a big turnout the first time, by advertising the seminars you’ve started the positioning in the eyes of the general public. Therefore, there’s a direct ROI for those that attend and indirect, for those that hear about you but don’t want to attend, but may be influenced by your seminars’ positioning.

What’s A Good Tagline For An Office Supply Business?

Names + Taglines

I need some help coming up with a clever tagline for an upcoming tradeshow. My company is in the office supply and furniture business, and for this tradeshow we want to highlight our recycled and “green” products, as well as introduce our “all green” catalog. I know of the standbys “Go Green” and “Be Green”, etc., but I would really like to come up with something clever and unique that would get people’s attention. Any ideas?

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Jay’s Answer: Green/Recycled goods by themselves won’t grab people’s attention – it’s not a primary buying motivator (compared to price, quality, service, etc.). Also, “green” is an over-hyped term, with few vendors actually providing products that are good for the environment (as opposed to less-bad).

You might focus on “Everything Old is New Again”, and show how your old-time service values are a natural match for old-time care for the environment.

How Can I Market My Spare Parts Business?

eMarketing

As a small (<$ 1M) crawler, loader, truck’s diesel engine spare parts company now we want to sell our stocks to international market. Our parts are genuine but they are for out of date models (about 20 or 30 years old) and company newer made an international sales. We have basic website and very small budget to marketing. My questions are:

1. Do I need an open eBay website or may i continue to classic sales with phone, fax, mail or email?
2. How can i reach my potential customers? Who they could be? In which countries I must target my marketing energy?
3. Which marketing tool that I could use within (monthly <$500 with 2 workers) budget?

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Jay’s Answer: Given your budget, a website would be a good investment. But first, are people looking (i.e., doing searches) for spare parts online? You can do this research yourself or hire an SEO person to find out. Your website should target these keywords.

Are there website directories for spare parts distributors? If so, get listed there.

You don’t need an eBay store if you have a website, nor do you (yet) need to target a country.

What you do want to do is determine the cost and rules for shipping your parts internationally. How long will it take? What are customs regulations? How will you handle returns?

How Can I Make My Website Popular?

eMarketing

I am developing a web portal. It’s name is www.amikhabo.com. It is a restaurant and food related portal. This site name “amikhabo”, it is a Bengali word. It means is “I will eat”. Still the site is under construction.

My vision is – my site amikhabo.com is a fully restaurant and food related portal in Bangladesh. If anybody visits this site then he will get complete restaurant and food related any information of Bangladesh.
So I need some new idea so that I can popular my site.

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Jay’s Answer: What is your business goal for the site – to get traffic and sell advertising? Or to sell for placement of the food-related information on your site?

Consider uploading the information about the restaurants (etc.) you’re doing for free (initially) – contact restaurants to get copies of their menus, and upload them to your site. Make sure you add necessary keywords and address information, tie-ing in to an online map (Yahoo or Google, for example). Also – allow people to comment on the restaurants, rate them, take pictures of them, etc. Make it a social site (like http://www.yelp.com/)

Once you get sufficient traffic, you’ll be eligible to add for-pay ads.

How Can I Promote My Local Rock Band?

Publicity

I have been following on a local Alt/rock band here in Vancouver and I am thinking of taking them on as a pet project. Of course the band doesn’t have much money to spend on promotions and such, so I need to come up with a thrifty way or promoting them. I believe their songs have very good potential and their past credentials of having worked with some very reputed folks from the music industry has convinced me to take this dive.

Now, I need to come up with a strategy to promote these guys and help get some money in so we can execute grander schemes. With the music industry being the way it is these days, DIY looks like a good way to go.

I also hear Japan is a very lucrative market for western music and would appreciate any pointers on how to get in on that.

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Jay’s Answer: MySpace, YouTube, and iTunes. Put band’s info on MySpace (and other social networking sites that your band’s demographic might use). Create videos of band performances for YouTube. Record Band songs for iTunes downloads (for sale).

What Are Some Marketing Ideas For A Travel Agent’s Events?

Publicity, Services

I am a travel agent working for a large company and I am one of five agents working in our travel department . I am required to put on a travel event in our office every month. I presented a Sandals Perfect Pairing Evening theme night in our office last month to promote the Sandals resorts and the Caribbean. Our Sandals rep came in and did a wonderful presentation and i had a local florist provide a few flower arrangements for decor . I am wanting to put on another theme night and was thinking of using one of our vendors who promotes European tours. I don’t know if I should specialize in one area, like Italy, or keep it general. Can you help me with creative ideas for the event? How to publicize it? Last time the company placed an ad for the event in the local paper. Local contacts? Any suggestions outside the usual box?

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Jay’s Answer: Keep the interest narrow – it’ll be easier to market “Italy” than “Europe”.

Create an Italian environment – serve food & drink from Italy (co-marketing with local restaurants). Local paper is fine, but also consider: Italian-American clubs in your area, Italian Classes (or even, foreign language schools), photography clubs (for photo-tours), cooking schools (food-tours), etc.

How To Get Advertisers And Sponsors For Website?

eMarketing

My site is now #2 and sometimes #1 in Google. (www.toddlertoddler.com) So things are good. Right now I have been mainly using Google ads for income on the site. I just recently added a directory and hope to make money with that. But I want to take it to the next level and get big company paid advertisers/sponsors on the site.

My current newsletter list has 1100 subscribers and I get about 300 new subscribers each month. I’ll probably bring in over 20,000 visitors to the site this month. So I believe that visitors like the site.

So what steps do I need to take to get “big business” ads and sponsors? Does it just involve emailing a bunch of contacts at these places? Do I need an ad management program? What do these big companies want to see in order for them to want to advertise on my site? Any help? or direction?

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Jay’s Answer: I’d first suggest creating placeholders for the ads. That will inform everyone that you’re be accepting ads, and getting people used to the placement of them on your site.

Sponsors care about your verified unique traffic, time on site, bounce rate, average sale, demographics, etc. But you’re not selling anything, nor (according to your privacy notice) will you share their email or other signup info, all you can provide are traffic stats.

The easiest way is to sign up with a banner advertising network. Here’s a list of some networks.
http://www.webreference.com/promotion/banners/networks.html

How Can We Market Our Market Our Spa/Plastic Surgery Center?

Services

We are a luxury spa/plastic surgery center. Our facility is spacious, and quite noticeable. Its pretty bare outside, but the minimalist feel gives off professionalism. (any suggestions outside?..banners..shrubbery..)

Our center has dental, plastic surgery, laser, and hair treatment. One can get botox treatment, and then pedicure right after so I keep this in mind.

What I’m wondering is if there were some innovative and effective ways to up our presence…..reel in more customers…..is there specific ways we should approach advertising (old or young)…..where should we advertise which will have the most impact…….since we have other beauty departments, what are some ideas to utilize it….what are some events we could hold….

I’m also thinking we need interactivity……..I already set up some smaller contests..but am looking for more ideas on contests, and/or charities that will give our center more exposure.

We also want to make our internet presence stronger. What are some good places to get our website linked to…and some things to add to the website.

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Jay’s Answer: Have a series of classes showing how people can look better WITHOUT surgery (makeup, diet, haircut, etc.) and/or offer non-surgical makeovers. In both cases, you’re trying to find people who care about their image but aren’t yet ready to take the plunge. You just want to build trust with them, and give them the opportunity to find out more when they’re ready.

Offer a class on ROI of plastic surgery: how much more people earned looking better, or who they attracted in their life, or how much better a life they now live.

Piggyback on upcoming college/high-school reunions. Give people a chance to “wow” their fellow students.

What’s A Good Slogan For a Water Purifier and… ?

Starting Out

I want a slogan for a water purifier to invites a press meet but water should not be mentioned on the slogan. and want to known how we can launch a new jewelry showroom.

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Jay’s Answer: 1) A slogan alone will not generate any interest in your business, especially by the press. If you have a press-worthy story, you need to do a targeted press release detailing who you are, what you’re doing, when you’re doing it, what’s special about it, etc. If the press deems it interesting, then they might appear at a press event. Using a teaser (without mentioning your product) will definitely backfire – no one wants to invest their time without knowing why they should. What you need is a marketing strategy – a plan to generate interest, and more importantly, attract new customers.

2) To launch a new showroom, I’ll once again strongly suggest that you create a strategic business plan. Why? I’ve talked to thousands of business owners, and the number one issue is people being overwhelmed by having to do too much and not having enough time/money to succeed. By first starting with a plan, you’re forced to go through the exercise of understanding your competition, identifying your market, your strengths, your weaknesses, supplies, and pricing. You’ll be thinking through the issues on paper, before you sign a lease, purchase supplies, or even print business cards. It doesn’t matter if you’re selling jewelry or ice cream – you need customers to make your business a success. You need to figure out why someone would want to purchase from you, and attract them to you.

How Can I Market My Portraits To Doctors’ Offices?

Publicity, Starting Out

I am marketing portrait photography services in my community and one of our strategies is to set up community displays in local pediatrician, OBGYN and family practice physician offices. Basically I am looking to set up a small table in their waiting room with some marketing material, portfolio books and a contest for a free portrait session to collect names. Another option is to provide portraits for the walls of their waiting room and patient rooms with the studio logo in the corner.

So far I have just been cold calling the offices in person and asking if they would be interested. I’ve only tried about 10 and haven’t had luck so far. Are there any other methods you would suggest to make it more beneficial to them to agree?

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Jay’s Answer: Your question is basically – how can I get a doctor to provide me with prime advertising space? Why should the doctor’s office be willing to give up patient waiting area to you? What about liability – kids & glass don’t mix well. What about aesthetics – it’s your display in their space.

Start with asking doctors you (or your friends’) know. What are their concerns? Under what conditions would they be willing to do this (and for how long)? Once you understand their needs, then you can being to cold call (ideally, warm referrals are better) with the knowledge of what the key objections are, and how to appeal to the office need in general. For example, ask about the art work in their office – when was the last time it was updated? Offer to visit their office monthly to rotate portraits among the offices – change is always nice. Perhaps have themed pictures (holidays, etc.) that go with their decor, etc.