All posts by Jay

Speak With Passion: Slides

Creative Business Ideas, Publicity, Speak With Passion

Writing a Speech

(Photo by Beate)

Whether you use Keynote, PowerPoint, Prezi, or your own favorite presentation tool, it’s vital that you think about the effect your slides will likely have on your audience.

When a new slide is flashed on the screen, people’s eyes will naturally gravitate to it. That means for a split second they’re likely not to be listening to you – they’ll be looking at the slide. In your presentation, give them time to absorb the new image/text, otherwise your words are likely to missed.

If your slide contains text, you need to give your audience time extra time to read the words. You can draw their attention to some key points (hint: don’t read the slide to them!), but realize that if they’re reading it’s hard for them to simultaneously listen to you. So, plan out how you wish to make your point – visually or aurally.

If you’re trying to make an emotional point, use few or no words on your slides – use emotional images instead. The images are easily “absorbed” by your audience and your speech will become more like a movie narration (an intimate experience) rather than a professional speech. In fact the movie analogy is quite appropriate – you want to script what you want your audience to see/do at each step in your presentation. When you move your hands or body, people follow your motions. If you’re looking away from the audience, they’ll follow your gaze. If you’re handing out paper, they’re looking for the handout.

Imagine if people tuned out your voice when talking and only looked at your slides (which naturally does happen when people shift their attention) – what would they remember about your message? To give a speech with passion, guide your audience on a journey, rather than tell them information.

It’s the Marketing Story, Stupid!

Creative Business Ideas

Wine Bottles On Display

(Photo by Alex Brown)

Imagine you’re looking to purchase a bottle of wine as a gift for the host of a party. You’ve narrowed it down to two bottles in your budget that look good. Both of them are well-recommended by the wine store owner. But then she tells you that one of the bottles comes from a small family vineyard, continuously owned for four generations. The wine is produced in small batches, the wine labels designed by an artist in their family, and the bottles are made from recycled glass. The other bottle contains equally delicious and affordable wine, produced by a winery you’re heard of. Which would you buy?

If you’re like most people, you’d chose the wine from the small family vineyard. And you’d feel good about doing so – knowing that you’re supporting a small family operation, and feeling a part of that tradition through your purchase. You’ll probably also share the story of the bottle with the party’s host – showing that you spent time thinking about what to purchase, and including their interest in the story as well.

When you’re marketing your product or service, realize that your competition’s quality may be as good as yours. The price may be as good. Ditto the reputation. So, how can you distinguish your offering from others? With a good great marketing story that lets people know what story they are also buying as part of the purchase. Consider that most people, after visiting your website’s home page, next visit your “About” page. Why? Because they want to know your story, and to somehow see if they “connect” to you. That’s why you should include details not only about your offering, but relevant details about you, your values, your aesthetics, etc.

First, focus on producing a great product or service. But to sell it competitively, develop a story that explains what people are buying into. This will help you to satisfy people’s analytic and emotional needs.

Amazon Nutritional Company Tagline?

Names + Taglines

I’m a distributor for a nutritional company. There’s no one like us – we distribute pure, wild-crafted, very efficacious health and herbal products from the Amazon rainforest. I’m trying to come up with a good tagline for my blog, but I’m struggling with it. Here are some ideas I’ve come up with:

  • Bringing the pure power of the Amazon rainforest to you.
  • Powerful rainforest nutrition. Remarkable results.
  • Get pure rainforest nutrition delivered to your door.
  • (Here’s a thought for a camu camu product: “Cutting Edge Skin Food”,but that doesn’t apply to the product offerings as a whole. However, I love the catchiness of it.
  • Rainforest Body Food

Your thoughts/ideas?

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Jay’s Answer: Because “Liquid Camu” doesn’t mean anything to most people, the tagline needs to clarify the key benefit you’re offering. It gets complicated if you’re selling a health benefit – the FDA will want to see proof.

Also – Camu camu is being over-harvested, making it approach endangered species status. That means that showcasing it as a “natural” and “wild-crafted” is a double-edge sword. The people who care about these things might be offended about the harvesting reality.

As for your taglines:

  1. Powerful rainforest nutrition. Remarkable results
  2. Get pure rainforest nutrition delivered to your door
  3. Cutting Edge Skin Food
  4. Rainforest Body Food

#1 and #2 are focused around “rainforest” and “nutrition”. People aren’t looking for nutrition. They’re looking to either get healthier, get stronger, or become more attractive.

#3 “Cutting Edge” and “Skin” shouldn’t be in the same sentence, unless you’re trying for a play-on-words for a newfangled razor.

#4 “Body Food” sounds strange – are you applying an emollient or  ingesting a nutraceutical?

One idea is to try something along the lines of “Ancient Rainforest Health Secrets Revealed (or Are Yours)”.

60th Birthday Tagline For a Bank

Names + Taglines

 I work for a very small bank that is getting ready to celebrate a 60th b- day.  Got any tag line ideas??  Thx

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Jay’s Answer: A business birthday celebration is generally more about the business and less about the customer. The customer doesn’t really care that the business has been around for awhile (in some businesses, longevity = staid/boring)  – what they care about is their services today. That means you need to connect 60 years with something your customers care about (that your bank uniquely satisfies).

Here are a couple of ideas to get you thinking:

  • Service Excellence For 3 Generations
  • Looking Forward To Our Next 60 Years Together

Starting a Dental Lab in Dubai

Starting Out

I was working as a dental technician now am working a tourism company in Dubai. I really love my past job and now am thinking to start one dental lab, recently I heard about one dental lab is going to close and am trying to take that on lease. I kindly request to send me some advice about marketing and name changing.

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Jay’s Answer: Before you take on the lease, can you sit down with the previous lab owner to understand why they are closing their business? What can you learn from their marketing efforts and business expenses?

Next, why change the name of the existing dental lab? The past owner spent time and money establishing the name – why not benefit from it?

Finally,  the key to your marketing is clearly identifying what your lab can do that the other labs in your area can’t or won’t do. It may be the speed of your services, type of services, guarantee of services, etc. How can your lab enrich your client’s lives? Once you understand the message, then you need to figure out how to get the message to them. Can you offer a lunch-and-learn seminar for the dental office managers?

30th Anniversary Ministry Tagline

Names + Taglines

I work for a small nonprofit in North Carolina called Cooperative Christian Ministry. We provide crisis assistance (financial, utilities, medications), food (multiple pantries across the county) and shelter/housing (overnight shelter (individuals and families), church supported overnight shelter for families, Mothers and Childrens Home (1 yr supportive housing) and Teaching Houses (2 yr transitional housing with support).

We are celebrating our 30th year anniversary this year and need a tag line. Something celebratory but also that sends the message of what we have been doing for those we serve and the community. This community is great about pulling together from churches, business and local government- so it has been a joint effort and we bring the leadership to pull these resources together to really address the needs (which have been significant in the last few years.) of those in crisis. Here is our mission statement:

The mission of Cooperative Christian Ministry is to provide immediate assistance to members of our community who are experiencing crisis in the areas of food, shelter, or finances while providing them access to resources that will empower them to move beyond crisis.

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Jay’s Answer: As I advise my clients, an anniversary tagline is more about an organization’s vanity than something for their intended audience. People don’t immediately care how long you’ve been in business. In some cases, longevity has a negative connotation (meaning old-fashioned). So, I don’t suggest that approach for you. Instead focus on what your ministry uniquely does for your audience. I’m guessing your audience includes both your clients AND your potential donors. So, your message needs to serve double-duty.

Here are a few ideas to play with:

  • Concord’s Crisis Center
  • The Community Crisis Support Team
  • Helping People In Crisis Thrive

Tagline For Mobile Eyewear Store

Names + Taglines

I am in the final stages of designing our business cards but need a “catchy” tagline. Our business is a mobile eyewear store. No need to go to the mall, find parking, lose time from work. We provide the service, free of charge at the place of your convenience, whether is work or home. Some tagline samples are “bringing the eyewear store to you:, or Eyewear delivered!, or Eyewear at your door.. thanks so much for your help.

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Jay’s Answer:

  • Eyewear Wherever You Are
  • See How Much Easier It Is?

Need A Tag Line For Donuts Company

Names + Taglines

I’m starting a donut shop (“Donut lovers”)to sell donuts with 2 ranges: Sweet (Chocolate, strawberry, vanilla flavoured, coconut) and Savoury (Chicken, Tuna). My target audience – Teenagers, and people who love to eat donuts. I need a tag line to make ppl to come and taste our donuts.

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Jay’s Answer:

  • Round Out Your Tastes
  • Sweet & Savoury Bite-Sized Treats

 

Tagline For Event Management Company

Names + Taglines

I need a tagline for the event management company im setting up.. right now im starting off with birthday parties but i might move into other areas later.. i need an appropriate tagline.. SOS! :)

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Jay’s Answer: Since a tagline should uniquely fit your company, it’s unwise to simply ask for a tagline without knowing a lot more details about your company and your ideal customers. Otherwise, you’ll wind up with something that’s generic and won’t produce the results you’re looking for.

Some of my clients have hired me to help tease out the details of their business plan to produce an on-target tagline. If you haven’t developed a marketing strategy, do it NOW, before you start trying to ramp up your business. It will save you a lot of time and money (and potential frustration) by better understanding what makes your company better/different from the competition (and why potential clients would likely hire your services).

Bringing In More Companies To United Arab Emirates

Services, Starting Out

I have two companies:

1- General contracting and general transportation
2- Business set up in UAE.

Like I arrange a local sponsor and manage all government transactions.  The question how shall i get new companies in UAE ? If any foreign company would like to establish company, factory…or any business in uae how shall i knew them before they start as services is to establish their companies and arrange their visas.

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Jay’s Answer: You need to establish yourself (your company) as creating business introductions to UAE. That means making personal introductions to business owners, government organizations, NGOs, etc.  By establishing your value in networking,  you’ve positioned your organization as a UAE “concierge” – making it easier to do business.

Start by taking a look at: http://guide.theemiratesnetwork.com/, http://uaetrade-usa.org/, http://www.uae-embassy.org/business-trade/doing-business, and http://www.communicaid.com/. These organizations have positioned themselves for businesses interested in doing business in UAE to connect with. Can you become a trusted vendor with them? Can you model your marketing after them? Can you do something they cannot? Can you target a country or industry that’s not well-served by these organizations? That’s where I’d start.