Monthly Archives: February 2009

A Tagline For A PR Professional?

Names + Taglines

I’m a retired PR professional who has started a small virtual agency…boringly named Claudia Lauber Marketing and PR. (I was on the spot at the CPA’s)

Now I need THE tag line to emphasize my professionalism and skills…something like Solid Ideas, Solid Results. But that just sounds so staid. I’m a more creative person than that. My logo is a stylized cowgirl throwing a lasso (had to include my passion…horses)

Who am I trying to attract? I’m trying to attract companies who are interested in project PR work. Large companies usually have an agency, but often use outside consultants for projects, events, etc. Or the company may be too small for a typical agency. Because we’re a virtual agency, our rates are much cheaper and easier for a small company to manage.

Where are they located? Louisville, Kentucky region.

Why would they care about you? 30+ years experience myself…combined 100+ years experience with consultants in the group, skilled at all elements of PR…advertising, community relations, media relations, events, sponsorships, etc. Niche skills such as events, sponsorships, internal communications and community relations are not always available…and I have those.

What specifically makes you different from other PR agencies? Combined experience of group. Able to be flexible with project teams, using only those whose skills match the project. No overhead. We’re really a fun group. Enthusiasm. Passion for the work. Honest counsel. Reliable. We care enough to listen. Each of our clients is a priority…you won’t get lost in the big agency maze.

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Jay’s Answer: A tagline needs to work together with your business name, your target audience, and your key benefit you provide (all in about 7 words).

(Note: Your company name “Claudia Lauber Marketing and PR” would make me assume that you’re foremost a marketing firm, not a PR firm.)

Here are some ideas to play with:

  • Helping Louisville Businesses Since 1978 (note: focus on your experience)
  • Small Agency. Big Heart. Great Service. (note: focus on your size/benefit)
  • Specializing in Events and Sponsorships (note: focus on specialties)
  • Gateway To Successful Event PR (note: focus on region/specialty)

A Tagline For An Event Planning Company?

Names + Taglines

Objective: Develop a fresh, playful and fun tagline that highlights our expertise, differentiates us from our competitors while still being catchy enough to remember. Competitor example: Outplay. Outplan. Outparty.

Our Approach: Inspire Events is a full service event planning company specializing in weddings, social gatherings and corporate events. We believe that every event should not only be inspiring but it should also be unforgettable. Known for our exceptional ability to visualize and transform an ordinary space into an inviting, distinctive atmosphere. Our goal is quite simply to create an experience for both the host and guest from invitation to parting gift that is uniquely original and down right fabulous.

Target Market: Marketing departments of Midsized Businesses, Corporate Executives, Non-Profits, Families and Brides/Grooms.

Event Examples: We produce corporate holiday parties, product launches, fundraisers, festivals, weddings, reunions and many more specialized parties.

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Jay’s Answer:

  • Parties That Swing (Rock)
  • Not Just A Party…An Event
  • Drop Dead Fabulous
  • Oh…My…Gosh
  • Parties Worth Talking About
  • Turning Fantasies Into Realities

How To Generate Revenue From a Radio Station Website

eMarketing

I have recently been given a project to generate as much extra revenue as we can from our radio station’s interactive website.

I am looking for ideas on how to get users to spend money via our website. Please note that i am well aware of the generic ways such as referrals and banner ads. I am looking for new ways to generate revenue.

A little back ground, the radio station is newly launched, only about a month old and is based in a country with a population of 140million plus with internet penetration at around 10%.

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Jay’s Answer: Leave a broadcast slot to feature local bands, and have the bands pay/bid for the slot (to play their latest CD, etc.)

Offers to have the DJs make personal appearances at private parties (playing their favorite music).

Sell podcasts of favorite shows.

If you have guests that play live music, compilation CDs of their live performances.

Headlines For Internal Newsletter?

Names + Taglines

The company is into telcommunications & Broaband, Internet, IPLC, WLL, NPLC, MPLS, Wi-max for Corporate customers, about 30 locations through emailers in PDF format -target audience is 1500 internal employees India & International. Newsletter is finalised with above mentioned Subtitles & articles , just wanted to check if we could do some brainstorming to come with unconventional names than the usual names.

Want creative unconventional headers, Alternative to the ones or the following mentioned below:-

  1. From the President’s Desk:
  2. CEO Speaks:
  3. Chief Operating officers Message:
  4. Updates:
  5. Accolades:
  6. Customer appreciations:
  7. From the horses mouth:

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Jay’s Answer:

  1. Broadcast from the President
  2. Broadcast from the CEO
  3. Chief Operating officers speaks
  4. Downloads
  5. Great Connections
  6. Our Network Speaks
  7. Random Packets

Does Rebranding Work?

Services

I work for a company in Nigeria. It started off as a web company with its head office in the states. Because the web industry is just picking, my company had to diversify into the advertising industry which is kinda related to web designing. Anyway we are doing a major rebranding for a telecommunications company. we’ve done the pre-launch and launch and are at the post launch stage. in the course of some personal research on what some professionals think about it; they were impressed but want to see if it will effect a change because i was told this isn’t the 1st rebranding exercise they’ve done and the major problem is their services and product. is there anyway my company can influence our client so that the whole marketing communications strategy isn’t a futile effort?

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Jay’s Answer: Your clients are asking for proof that your rebranding will work. The truthful answer is you have no idea.

When re/branding, you are telling your prospective customers a message and hoping that they will purchase your product/services. The reaction of your market is complex: based on the copy, the placement of the message, the history of the company, the visual, the offer, the prospect’s “experience” communicating with the company, repetitions, and luck (sometimes the right message gets in front of the right eyes for random reasons).

If your company has a history of other successful work, then they will help build your credibility. Better yet, if you have statistics showing that your recommended colors, graphics, copy, (etc.) produced measurable benefit, even better.

How you can best serve your client is to provide tracking to all of your rebranding efforts. How did people find out about the product/service? What message resonated best? What web pages were the most effective?

Another idea is instead of providing a full rebranding effort, start small and test. Show that your first action produced measurable results, and continue to evolve. You can always focus test, but the best results are always real-world. Split test your copy/website/ads.

Show your client that you’re willing to do what it takes to make them successful.

If the problem is that the client’s product/services aren’t so good, then you have other issues:

  • You can tell your client the truth, that unless they change their business nothing they say will really matter (and each time they rebrand fewer and fewer people will believe them). This will keep your integrity high, but might lose you an important client.
  • You can help your client to improve their product, so it’s more than words. You might need to bring in a business consultant to help them understand where there problems are. This will keep your client, and help them to improve.
  • You can do nothing, and take the money, and watch the company continue to do poorly. This will keep a client, but won’t help your portfolio.
  • You could commission a survey to uncover public perception, and present it to the company. This will be impartial information that will help them to fine tune both their actions and your rebranding effort.

Maintenance Review Company Tagline?

Names + Taglines

The company name is Maintenance Operations Program (MOP) (www.mopinfo.ca). We perform building maintenance reviews. We do not perform the maintenance. We are looking for a short tag line for magazine advertisements.

One suggestion is “Get on the Right Track”

We are hoping to include that we do reviews in the tag line.

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Jay’s Answer:

  • We Find Small Problems Before They’re Big
  • Isn’t It Time For Your Building’s Checkup?
  • Our Reviews Protect Your Real Estate Investment

How To Promote An RV Resort?

Publicity

I am promoting an RV resort. They are selling RV sites and want real out of the box marketing ideas. HELP! So far I have:

  • Start a suggestion box for your employees, soliciting innovative marketing ideas. Some of the best and most creative ideas come from people who are involved daily with various aspects of your business. Give a $100 award for ideas used.
  • Free Weekend Getaway to the new Buyers
  • Offer a wine club membership
  • FREE camping equipment or fishing gear for the new Buyers
  • Raffle off a RV site. Sell the raffle tickets

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Jay’s Answer: You could focus on people who’ve never RVed. Rent them the RV & the space & the experience. Offer them RV-ing lessons, if they’re interested (how to drive, rent vs. buy vs new/used, etc.).

Focus on a niche – families with young children, wedding parties, office retreats, singles weekends, etc. Now you can focus your efforts on attracting the niche, rather than selling RVing.

A video showing the full-experience of your resort.

A cost-comparison of your resort vs. a hotel.

Offer free wifi, and attract entrepreneurs who want to travel but still be connected to the office.

What Should I Name My Personal Training Business?

Names + Taglines

I have just qualified as a personal trainer, and I am looking for a great Personal Training business name. All the names and taglines I have thought of have already been taken.

My strengths are great customer service, very friendly and positive attitude, I can connect very easily with people, and I am a big believer in a strong mind. Could you advise of a few business names and taglines?

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Jay’s Answer: Are you looking for a web domain name or a name for your business?

Your strengths aren’t specific enough to attract clients – they should be a given for any personal trainer. What specific talents, techniques, or background that you have that people would care about? Names & taglines are used to tell people about your offerings and must fit like a “glove”.

Also: Where are you located? And what names are you attracted to (and why)?

How To Convert Website Tryers Into Buyers?

eMarketing

We are preparing to release a new, online service that will be used by both paying and non-paying users. The difference being that paying users get more ‘goodies’ (services & capabilities) than non-paying users are getting.

Based on the fact that we’ll have people who can ‘use’ our program on a limited basis and without charge, we’re trying to find the best way to help interested users become paying users.

I’ve seen a number of mechanisms that do this kind of thing . . . but I’m honestly not sure what will be really effective vs. something that is based more on the artistic decision of a website or graphic designer who is less of a marketer and more of a designer (no offense meant by saying that, BTW)

Our service is provided through a very robust online application that any user accesses via their browser. We can get eyeballs to go there, but once there, we want those who are qualified to become paying users … to do so.

To help manage the risk of making a bad decision, we are very happy to offer a limited time, risk-free use of our service . . . e.g. a 14 (30?) day free trial . . . so the prospect can better determine if the value proposition we claim to offer is real or, something less.

We also don’t believe in any long-term commitments. The fee to use our service is a month-to-month fee. If you don’t use it, you don’t pay for it. Simple. No hassles.

Our mission is to make our clients so dee-lighted with our service that not only won’t they leave, but they’ll bring their friends and contacts over for a healthy sampling of what we offer.

Can you suggest any especially critical things to be sure we DO and/or DON’T on the website / in the online application to maximize the conversion of tryers into buyers?

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Jay’s Answer: Your first round of tryers should be restricted to the number of people you can actively interact with. During this phase, you’ll be testing the system, and building your FAQs and creating instructional videos for common problems people are having. You need to hold their hands well.

Once you’ve ironed out the basic system, open the doors…slowly. Make it invitation-only initially, so there’s a pent-up demand (but also so that you can continue to refine your “excellent customer service”). The forum for the website should be open to all so people can start learning about it, but only members can post feedback.

Depending on your free/for-pay application, you can do many things. For example, free versions can’t print, can’t save, or when printing or viewing onscreen there’s an advertisement (not annoying, but visible). You want the prospective buyers to clearly know how your tools work, so don’t cripple the functionality – let people see the power, but just make it annoying enough to encourage tryers to move to buyers. A tryer might be a big influencer to other buyers, so let tryers play.

You might actually offer 3 levels: free (anonymous), free (registered), and for-pay (registered). The free (anonymous) can simply show up and start using it (if they know how). The registered people get access to training materials (registration is nothing more than their name & email so you can use an autoresponder to begin a dialogue).

Golfing Hole Sponsorship For Architecture/Engineering Firm

Publicity

We quote ourselves as being the one firm – start to finish. Golf tournament coming up and we are sponsoring a hole….looking for fun ideas/games that would highlight architectural services.

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Jay’s Answer: You could place images of buildings you’ve designed around the green, and have prizes for hitting the “buildings” from the tee.

You could build a skeleton home out of 1x2s (or 2x4s). Instead of windows, place metal panes (that would “ring” when hit). Again, a prize for hitting the windows.