How Can I Advertise Our New Social Networking Website?

eMarketing

I am the CMO of a new social networking site (similar to that of myspace or facebook) but we are paying back 100% of our net profits to the users.

We launched our open beta at the U of M campus in Michigan. We are doing a Big Ten Promotional tour, along w/ Monster Energy Drink. We are passing our promotional cards out that give users a 500 point bonus for signing up. (Points are how we monitor how much profit sharing you are alloted). The top ten point earners during our beta round win an iPhone. the top point earner from each campus while we are there (two week period) also win an iPhone.

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Jay’s Answer: The problem that I see is that you’ll get people to sign up (to win a prize) but people will continue to use their default social networking site to communicate with their friends.

Focus on what will make your site better than your competitors, rather than simply getting sign-ups. That way you’ll grow your traffic, not just your membership.

What Is A Good Slogan To Promote Teen Healthy Eating?

Names + Taglines

I need some help in coming up with a slogan to promote healthy eating that is aimed at young teenagers and their parents.

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Jay’s Answer: The slogan should focus on the benefit to healthy eating: reduced acne, better night’s sleep, better grades, more energy, improved mood, etc.

  • Coffee, Chips, and Soda Don’t Create Winners
  • Eco-Friendly Energy For Your Body
  • Look and Feel Better Eating Smarter

How Do I Create/Format a Professional Report with Word and PDF?

Services

I have Word and Acrobat, so I can create it and PDF it, but how do I make it look sharp and professional (pictures, layout, etc)? I plan to offer it to business professionals from my web site, so it needs to be at top consultant level.

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Jay’s Answer: Layout is an art. One of the easiest way to get going is to find a layout you like and apply it to your needs. Look at fonts, spacing, line width, paper size, headers, footers, indices, table of contents, etc. There are a myriad of details.

Also, realize that if it looks like everyone else’s reports, then it won’t stand out. It’s important to know when to go with the flow, and when not to.

How Should I Announce A Company Acquisition?

Clubs + Associations

My client is a mid-sized professional services firm. They are in the process of acquiring the practice of a competitor whose principal is very sick and unable to continue the practice. My client is obviously very concerned about how to announce the new acquisition to the clients and employees of the firm being acquired with the utmost sensitivity and integrity. The firm being acquired is small (under 10 employees), but has a healthy sized client base comprised primarily of small to mid-sized businesses, as well as individuals. The goal is to keep both the employees and clients of both firms well-informed, to promote comfort and confidence in the change, to openly and sensitively deal with questions and concerns that will undoubtedly arise, all while treating the matter with the sensitivity and integrity it deserves. What kinds of communication strategies and tactics can you recommend that would help fulfill these goals?

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Jay’s Answer: I would first have the leader of the competitor hold a meeting with their staff (potentially even without your client in attendance). The obvious questions: What about my job? What will happen? should be discussed. Giving the competitor room to come together and grieve would be a healthy thing to do with such a small group. The next internal meeting would be to have your client’s president/CEO in attendance to answer the questions. At the same time, have the competitor’s leadership meet with the client’s staff. The goal is to introduce everyone to each other in a healthy/clear way. This must be done before the public is involved, so that the public gets a consistent message.

The clients are next. Pre-emptively attempt to answer their key questions and schedule 1 on 1 meetings (phone, in person, etc.) with them in the coming weeks. You want to listen to their needs and respond to them.

Change happens. Show how combining the 2 companies will actually improve things for the better for everyone.

How Can I Market My Physical Therapy and Wellness Classes?

Publicity, Services

I am looking for marketing ideas for my business I am a physical therapist and would like to know how can I reach more clients for PT. I also offer wellness group classes such as belly dance, yoga, zumba, and private and semi private pilates I have a nice group of women coming to my classes but how can I attract more men as well as overall new clients.

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Jay’s Answer: Is your business focused around helping the healing process or prevention? Prevention is always a harder sell – people want to make a problem go away, but don’t want to invest time and money to avoid a potential problem (they’re generally too busy). What’s the competition like in your area? What’s your specialty?

As for getting more male clients. Men aren’t generally interested in wellness. They are more attracted to things like strength-building, aerobic-conditioning, and stress-reduction. Focus on these themes for your marketing.

Reach out to martial arts schools in your area. As a long-time martial artist, I know that different arts put repetitive strains on the body. Approach the head of these schools, and find out what problems are common. Then create a class for avoiding/healing the injuries at (and co-marketed with) the school.

How Can I Improve My Retail Sales?

Products, Publicity

Which of the following strategies is better for improving retail sales $;
A: take my best offer- 40% everything and run it the duration of my entire weekend sale
B: Take my best offer- 40% of everything and make it good only during my historical slow periods, Fridays, 8a-1p.

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Jay’s Answer: I’d pick choice "C": Do something dramatic. During the time period of your sale, your customer picks the discount by spinning a wheel, picking a piece of paper, popping a balloon, etc. The catch is that one of the random options is 100% off, the majority being 10%, and scattered other discounts. Take a picture of the 100% winner and put it in your window, ads, etc.

Long term, this isn’t a good strategy, though. You don’t want people getting trained to come in only for a discount, nor do you want to be known for low prices. You want to be known for quality, unique goods, etc. Short-term, it might be what you need to clear out older goods and generate some cash for your business.

How Can I Optimize My Press Releases?

eMarketing, Publicity

Do you know of free (or low cost) software that scans your press release and tells you if it is optimized for search engines, or how to better optimize it for search engines? I believe the idea is that if your press release is optimized for the search engines, and then you submit it through the wires, that it is more likely to show up in Google News and such, giving your web site more traffic.

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Jay’s Answer: While it might seem to be a good idea to focus on your keyword density and the right keywords, I’m going to suggest that your focus on the value of the copy itself.

Yes, it’s a great idea to know what people are searching for. If you know that 1,000,000 people each month search for "new homes san diego", and there are 25,000 websites that already target these keywords, having your site rank well is likely to be a waste of your time (short-term).

Instead, focus on the "meat" of the press release. Remember a press release has a specific format. It’s not intended as a sales piece – it’s to announce something newsworthy. Make your PR newsworthy and you’ll get more than just search engines interested – you’ll get actual editors interested in giving you free space in their media.

If you had a SEO person, you could give them your high-value PR and let them tweak it slightly. But since you don’t, focus on what makes your company services interesting in the eyes of prospects.

How Can I Attract People To Our Sports Memorabilia Website?

eMarketing

My client is sells football memorabilia from around the world; signed and authentic high-quality products. We’ll be launching the website with e-commerce facility soon. In this sector, besides the usual SEO and PPC, what other methods would you recommend for attracting visitors to the site, increasing newsletter subscriptions, creating word-of-mouth and, obviously, increasing sales?

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Jay’s Answer: The #1 thing I’d suggest is getting a trusted 3rd party to authenticate/guarantee the memorabilia. That would be my first concern – Can I believe that the football is really signed by who you claim it is?

Make sure you have high-quality photos of each offering and lots of supporting text (for the search spiders).

Get listed on various memorabilia sites, such as:
http://sporting-goods.pricegrabber.com/football-memorabilia/p/1779/

Create an eBay store, list products on Amazon, etc.

If you have truly unique products, consider a press release.

If your products are from a limited number of sports teams, co-market with them.

Find memorabilia blogs and write about what’s special about your products.

Where Can We Promote Our Webinar For The Software Industry?

eMarketing, Publicity

We are hosting a webinar with a known author to show people in the software industry how to delivery surprisingly compelling demos in a virtual environment. The author is going to talk about the do’s and don’ts in demos to avoid boring ones. We are going to talk about some of our customer successes.

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Jay’s Answer: Focus on your target market: the software industry. Get even more specific: managers? programmers? web designers? CEOs? What type of software? For what audience?

Next, find where your target market goes online.

Finally, create a video of the webinar, and consider uploading it to Google Video, YouTube, etc. where it will eventually be found and get a lot of play. Make sure that the video clearly leads viewers back to your website for follow-up information, handouts, etc.