All posts by Jay

Need Opinion On My Slogan/Tag Line

Names + Taglines

I’m a general contractor (M&M Builders) which dose a little of everything from remodeling to new construction. I’m trying to come up with a slogan the best I came up with is “Your satisfaction is our commitment” but I’m not sure if it stands out from everyone else and my customers should already know that, our customer are our top priority. we are a very personable company. we make every client feel like they are the only ones we are doing business with. All ways return phone calls by the next day. etc. I would say what we excel at over the everyone else is our customer service. any input would be greatly appreciated.

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Jay’s Answer:

  • We Build Great (Long-Lasting) Relationships
  • We Build Satisfaction Into Every Job
  • Your Wish Is Our Command

 

Help Me Start My Wedding Planning Business

Names + Taglines, Starting Out

I am currently a student and wanted to start being a wedding planner. I need help. Can u help me by  suggesting the name and the work regarding it. i would be thankful to u

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Jay’s Answer:   You don’t start building a business with a name. You start building a business with a plan. Once you have the well-thought out plan, then you can begin to craft your marketing strategy (where you name is one part of it). By starting with a name, you’re assuming you know how to find your customers, what they need, why they should trust you, and how you compare to your competition.  I suggest starting by reviewing this article of mine: http://www.manygoodideas.com/2008/10/01/unpeeling-your-marketing-onion/

Speak With Passion: Start To Write Your Speech

Creative Business Ideas, Publicity, Speak With Passion

Writing a Speech

(Photo by Leah Jones)

Now that you’ve clearly identified the goals of your talk (3 questions) and clearly articulated your audience’s “message”, how do you start writing your speech? Since your audience is only likely to remember the beginning and end of a speech in detail, focus 75% of your efforts on the opening/closing of your talk.

The opening will set the expectation for the audience, so don’t waste your opening time thanking people, cracking a joke, or even a brief self-introduction. Hook your audience with an exciting story that they can relate to, that they can envision themselves experiencing first hand. Once people are captivated, then take them on a journey with you (and let them know where you’re heading with your presentation, so they don’t have to guess).

The middle of the speech should continue the opening’s promise of tone/direction. Support your speech with appropriate simple graphics. Slides of images or single words. These images should reinforce your message and give an opportunity to make your abstract words into something visually concrete.

The end of the speech should arrive gently. You want your audience to feel that the “end is near” and that they need to pay attention to your summary/conclusion. It’s disheartening to see a speech end (what feels like) suddenly and the audience scrambling to ask each other for what the speaker just said. Recap the journey you took and remind them of some of the highlights. If you can, provide a final image to lock your presentation around.

Remember that’s it’s better to leave your audience asking for more. Share your best stories. Your best images. Your humanity. Your passion.

Your Marketing Numbers

Creative Business Ideas

Marketing Target Numbers

(Photo by Dave Bleasdale)

Ultimately your business is about numbers: income, costs, profit, sales, and referrals. But what numbers should you focus on based on your company’s goals?

If you’re just starting your business, you’re trying to unlock the magic formula for attracting clients. You’re not quite sure how much to charge or how much time you’re spending on your various business tasks. All you know is you need more sales. So you try different marketing messages, advertising to different niches, update your website, etc. You do more of what’s working and eliminate things that don’t. It’s a real-world experiment, and you’re keeping track of your bank balance (since you’re likely spending more than you’re earning).

As you grow your business, you’re optimizing your systems. You’re measuring the true cost of your product/services, your profit margin, and your return on your investment/time (for each business activity, including face-to-face meetings, networking events, etc.). By knowing the lifetime value of a new customer, you’ll be able to know how much you should bid for pay-per-click ads or pay for additional traffic.

If you’re seeking investors in your business or are interested in selling your business, others will care about: cost per customer acquisition, profit per sale, and annual sales. These numbers will provide them the financial bottom-line information necessary to decide the investment risk and likelihood of return.

Even if you’re not a “numbers person”, as a business owner you need to keep focused on your key indicators. You’re in business to make money. By focusing on these numbers you’ll be ensuring your long-term viability.

Facebook Marketing Strategy

Creative Business Ideas, eMarketing

The benefits to an award-winning business

(Photo by Sean MacEntee)

1 in every 13 people on earth are on Facebook. In the United States, over 70% of the internet users are on Facebook. If you haven’t already created a page for your business on Facebook, you’ve strongly considered it. But do you know how to use Facebook for your business marketing?

First, here are the standard basic steps to get you started:

  1. Create a Facebook page for your business, brand, product, or cause using the standard templates.
  2. Create a “vanity” URL to better brand your page.
  3. If you already actively blog, connect your blog’s feed to Facebook using tools described here.
  4. Get people to “like” your business. By having someone like your business, your business shows up on their Info page – which is a “public vote” for your business. Give people a reason to “like” or “friend” your page – For example, create information that only fans can see on Facebook.

If you’ve done all four of these steps, you’ve basically recreated some of your website’s information on Facebook. That’s good if people are searching for you on Facebook, but otherwise, you haven’t leveraged the “social” aspect yet.

“Social” is about a conversation between you and others. Not a one-way speech. Not trying to sell people anything. It’s about listening to what people are saying and occasionally sharing something remarkable. Think of good social media skills as akin to being a great cocktail party guest – by being at the party, everyone is richer for the experience. That means, don’t try to sell. Instead, try to introduce people to others, knowledge, and interesting ideas. Try to make others’ lives better. That’ll make you someone worth paying attention to.

But what makes Facebook a better social platform for marketing? Two things: Facebook Ads and tagging. Because Facebook compiles so much information about each user, it allows a very fine granularity for targeting your prospective customers (for example: newly engaged, newly divorced, newly employed, newly moved, interested in certain clubs, etc.). But tagging is where you can spread your message for free, if done right. For example, let’s say you want to release your new case study. You’ll likely send a press release and feature it on your website/blog. But you can also tag the individuals featured (with their permission, of course). Tagging gets your message in front of their friends – and this is the magic. Before you might have to ask others to post a blurb about something you did that featured them. Now, you’re basically given the opportunity to post on their “channel”. Don’t abuse this privilege, but do think about how to feature others to spread your message. A true win-win.

Warning: Don’t use Facebook in lieu of your own website. If you read the fine print, Facebook has the right to shut down your Facebook page at their whim. Also, be careful what you upload to Facebook (from Facebook’s Terms of Use):

For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.

 

Who Cares What YOU Think?

Creative Business Ideas

Your thinking doesn't matter

(Photo by Jacob Bøtter)

We all think that our ideas are the best ones. Our way is the right way. Our views are the right worldview. But in business, it doesn’t truly matter what you think about your offering – it’s what your customers think about it that matters.

If you spend thousands of dollars developing a new amazing cutting-edge product and it doesn’t sell – is it because your product was bad or because it’s not the right offering at the right price at the right time? If you create a beautifully scripted television show, but no one tunes in, is your audience stupid? If you use organic healthy ingredients that taste delicious to you, but everyone else spits out the food, who’s right?

There’s a fine line between being on the cusp of the next new thing and being insanely wrong. You can do all the focus testing you want. You can hire all the best consultants. But until people vote with their wallets, you really don’t know if you’re about to be famous or infamous.

“Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy?” could be rewritten for business as, “Do you want to be right or do you want more customers?” Lead your customers to your better offer. Unless you have a huge budget, you’re better off focusing your efforts meeting your customers’ needs today rather than trying to teach them why they’re wrong.

Bottom line: Spend your time testing your offerings frequently to best understand the pulse of your customers.

In Need Of Ideas For Software Analysis Video!!!

Publicity

I’m having trouble coming up with ideas for a software analysis video that needs to be created for the launch in a 1.5 weeks. It doesn’t have to be fancy but clear, concise and targeted to an engineering type audience.Length: 3-5 minutes long. I have a PowerPoint that can be used to show certain things. The main aspect to be highlighted is that the software works in 4 steps (1-Collect Data, 2-Store Data, 3-Analyze Data, 4-Report on the Data). Budget is around $3-$5k. I was thinking a voice over with someone talking through imp parts of the PowerPoint. I can have a videographer take video of a Demo. But I need some solid ideas as I’ve never planned a small software video before.

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Jay’s Answer:   What’s the goal of your video – to answer questions from an interested audience or to attract a disinterested viewer?

Before scripting the video, start by interviewing your prospective clients (ideally, record the interview). Tell them in a sentence or two about what you’re selling, and let them ask a question. Answer it, and repeat. Do this enough, and you’ll know what points you need to touch on (and in what order).

Since this is a video – what visual impact do you hope to make? Why not simply a PDF or case study? How will the video improve your message?

Finally, 3-5 mins is a long time (these days) to have people watch something. Can you get your message across in 3 minutes?

Tagline For Utah Non-Profit

Names + Taglines

The Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting mutual understanding and respect between the people of Utah and other nations. UCCD is guided by the principle of Citizen Diplomacy – the concept that the individual citizen has the right, even the responsibility, to help shape U.S. foreign relations “one handshake at at time.”

UCCD is a private sector partner with the U.S. Department of State International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP). Each year, UCCD welcomes over 450 emerging leaders from around the world to Utah for short-term professional and cultural exchanges. More than 326 IVLP alumni are current and former Chiefs of State and Heads of Government (= global impact).

UCCD is also the Utah chapter of the World Affairs Councils of America. Among other community programs, UCCD organizes a World Affairs Lecture Series that engages Utahns in key foreign policy and international business issues. We’re thinking of adopting the following tagline: “Local Engagement – Global Impact.”

Any other thoughts?

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Jay’s Answer:

Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy:
Connect Locally. Transform Globally.

Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy:
Bringing The World To You

Name My Wedding Planner Business

Names + Taglines, Starting Out

I need a name 4 my wedding planner business.

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Jay’s Answer:   The process for naming your business should start with your marketing strategy.

Who are you targeting (other than “people who want to get married”)? Are these people located in a specific region? A certain age? Men and women? A certain income bracket? A certain religious background?
Why you’re different. Assuming that the people you’re targeting already know they want a wedding planner, how do THEY decide on who to hire. It’s not about (simply) price – it’s about the value, the skills, the contact, and the special knowledge the planner has. What do you offer than others don’t?

For example, you can call yourself “Chicago’s Wedding Planner” (which clearly says you specialize in wedding in Chicago) or “Pagan Wedded Bliss” (for specialty for a type of wedding). The narrower you define your target audience, the easier it will be for them to find you and for you to be seen as the specialist for them.

I Want To Start A New Business – But What?

Starting Out

I am looking for a business for myself.  I have been told to get into business for myself many years ago and always worked for someone else!  I have been unemployed now for 9 long months and need an income.  Sorry about being drawn out!  The things I like beauty, making people feel special, and travel. all combined into one!  I also love feet and had a great idea and found out that was already taken!

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Jay’s Answer:   You’re halfway there – identifying some things that you like to do. The next step is to figure out what people will pay you to do that involves your passions. Maybe you can be a tour guide to pampering locations, or teach people the tricks of looking good while traveling, or being an aesthetician. The trick is balancing your loves with other’s needs. Ideally, find a need that people are asking for but haven’t be able to find (look online at discussion groups to see what people are talking about).

Also, any of these ideas may be able to make you successful, the fact is you need to balance the dream with reality – needing an income today. So, perhaps by working for a tour operator, or in a spa, or for cruise line can both help to pay your bills TODAY and to learn more about the business and identify things that people would pay you for.