We are putting together an awareness billboard campaign for our community theater and want something to let people know we are here with live theater. Any help would be appreciated.
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Jay’s Answer:
Trailer:
Episode theme: People whose musical success enhances the lives of everyone that hear it.
For many years, Kenny White was a fixture in the NY studio scene, writing and producing literally hundreds of commercials for TV and radio. In this capacity, he worked with artists like Gladys Knight, Linda Ronstadt, Dwight Yoakam, Ricky Skaggs, Kim Carnes, Felix Cavaliere, Dobie Gray and Aaron Neville. After being hailed by reviewers from the NY Times to the SF Chronicle for his thrilling and unique piano playing, White chose to devote himself to making his first album and subsequently, “hitting the road.” Since 2001, he has released six albums and toured worldwide.
Website: Kenny White
Marco d’Ambrosio has scored numerous award winning films, documentaries, and live theatre projects. Marco is also responsible for creating much of the dynamic sound and music heard in the acclaimed Lucasfilm THX trailers. In 2005, he was one of six accomplished composers awarded a fellowship from the Sundance Institute.
Website: www.MarcoCo.com
Address: 701 De Long Avenue / Suite D / Novato, CA 94945
Phone: (415) 898-3403
Email: Marco d’Ambrosio
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Is there a good way to use my website to start creating a contact database for b2b relations? I heard that If I can get the targets to my website and have them sign up for some type of information I can then get there information and use it as a target prospect. Is this true?
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Jay’s Answer: Yes. It’s sort of a chicken-and-egg problem. You build a contact list because people have opted in to your communications. They opt-in because they believe you have information that they want.
But first, you need to get them to your website, which means that somehow your target audience needs to find you when they start looking for you. So you also need to invest in bringing (anonymous) people to your website, to entice them with your offering, and want them to continue talking with them.
Also – studies show that the more information you ask of people to opt-in, the lower the sign-up rate. So, only ask for information that you absolutely need to have to begin the dialog. Once you’ve show your true worth, they’ll share more of themselves with you.
I currently have a client on a 6 month retainer who has been getting a slight discount for offering me work security for a set number of months. I charge my regular fee for any hours that are worked in addition to the pre-defined days per month. I also allow the client to increase the number of retained days at any given time, but if they do so it must stay increased for the duration of the retainer contract.
My issue: The client apparently misunderstood or did not read the contract and is saying that they wanted to increase the number of retained days at any time for any individual month and only for that individual month. I think this just gives them a way to pay me less money by simply assessing what their needs will be at the start of every month. I’m confused, am I missing something or is this client trying to take advantage of me?
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Jay’s Answer: Why not give the client a single opportunity to ratchet your retainer hours once during the initial 6-month period? Let them drive the # of hours up (or down) but then they have to live with this number for the rest of the period. That allows them to customize the situation and also to avoid having a monthly ratchet.
I am opening a brand new dental lab. I just can’t think of the name that can well brand our business. Since we will work with lots of sophisticated dentistry offices, I would want some thing that can say by our name. Any ideas?
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Jay’s Answer: A name won’t brand your business. It’s just a name that hopefully people will remember if they’re looking for your services. You have 2 basic choices: an abstract name (“The 32 Lab”) or a concrete name (that describes what you do, for example “Peoria Dental Lab”). Abstract names are fun, but since they don’t describe what you do, you’ll need a bigger marketing budget to explain who you are, etc. Concrete names tend to be not as sexy, but you need to balance that with who you’re marketing to.
Since your services will be in a specific region and will be targeting dentists (not the general public), consider names that leverage either: your location, your specialty, and/or your unique benefit (what you do that no other lab can do).
I’m going to promote our products but needed a tagline for the products used for cleaning like dish washing liquid and other products used for janitorial purposes like bleach.
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Jay’s Answer:
We are a non-profit contemporary dance company. We are staging a Dracula Ballet in October in an actual castle. We want to target to 20-35 year old, upscale audience willing to spend $ on the experience. Suggestions?
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Jay’s Answer:
Trailer:
Episode theme: People whose businesses help feed the local community.
Andrew Brait is one of 4 partners of Full Belly Farm, a highly diversified 300 acre organic farm in the Capay Valley. Prior to arriving at Full Belly Farm in 1990, Andrew came from Vermont where he had worked for 5 yrs on an organic farm. As a first generation farmer, he comes to agriculture with an appreciation for redefining the roles of stewardship, production and marketing. With a background in education, environmentalism and small business, Andrew believes successful farming must look at a “triple bottom line” – ensuring fiscal solvency, ecological sustainability, and social profit. Andrew and his wife Anna live in a quieter corner of a very busy farm with their two sons, Ellis and Jonas.
Website: Full Belly Farm
Email: andrew@fullbellyfarm.com
Address: End of County Road 43 / Guinda, CA 95637
Phone: 530-796-2214
Carola Detrick, inspired by volunteering for Project Open Hand (a non-profit that delivers meals & groceries to people living with HIV/AIDS) in 1993 started the non-profit organization Meals of Marin in her home kitchen. Since then, she and her staff of volunteers have cooked for and home-delivered over 900,000 appetizing, healthy, home-cooked meals to people with life threatening illnesses living in Marin County, California.
Email: c.detrick@mealsofmarin.org
Website: www.MealsOfMarin.org
Phone: (415) 246-8024
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I have been playing around with changing the tagline for my breakfast and lunch business. It is a coffee shop that sells traditional American fare type of food. We are known for always been busy and with a friendly customer service. We serve greasy spoon meals, as well as some authentic breakfast and lunch specials plates with worldwide influences. The name of my business is Martin’s Coffee Shop … www.martinscoffeeshop.com. Our current tagline is The Healthy Way To Start The Day. I am trying to change it so that I can attract both lunch and breakfast clients, more so the working people and businesses during the week. Our clientele is varied … Weekend crowd consists of college students, families with kids too who come from the local neighborhoods as well as nearby towns. The weekday crowd consists of working people, students from schools nearby and elderly people. The atmosphere of the restaurant is small and cozy, a diner setup with a counter and a few tables. Hopefully this should be enough for some ideas.
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Jay’s Answer: I think the germ of your tagline resides on your Yelp postings ( http://www.yelp.com/biz/martins-coffee-shop-brookline). Here are some ideas:
What is a eye-catching tagline for an event planning business? I am stuck on a tagline. My event planning business is targeting cost-conscious customers for all types of events. The name of the company is Aziza Events which means beloved, cherished, precious. Thank you.
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Jay’s Answer: My first impression is you have a conflict in value/benefits: event planning & cost-consciousness. If I’m looking to hire an event-planner, I want to have a party, impress, entertain, create memories, etc. I’m not primarily thinking about saving money initially (otherwise, I’d plan the event myself).
If your target market isn’t aware of the meaning behind the word “Aziza”, then it’s just another name to them without the meaning you wish to connote.
You may wish to consider some suggestions I’ve made to another planner: