Category Archives: Publicity

Monthly Marketing Strategy For Retail Ladies Store?

Publicity

I need a monthly (or bi-monthly) marketing plan for upscale ladies boutique (in the south) during this slow economic time. Right now, we are keeping our heads above water, but I want to replace my usual fashion show/luncheons with events that are more effective in bringing customers into my store during these days of slower financial times….perhaps highlighting breast cancer awareness in some way in October and bringing in a coupon card for a % off during a slow month…I want to be sensitive to the harder economy and yet keep my store alive.

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Jay’s Answer: Bring in local speakers who can talk about a range of topics that would be interesting to your clientele: improving your business appearance, better body language, dating tips, how to balance career/family, PR tricks, etc. Unless you know what problems your clientele are having, you’ll have to guess about the topics (or take a poll). The point is to get people to keep physically coming into your store – and each time they do, there’s a no main display that inspires them.

How To Market Our Networking Group?

Clubs + Associations, Publicity

I belong to a networking group which has been around for 4 years. We only allow one person from each industry so there is no competition. We exchange referrals. We are a BNI group but I want to brand our group name in our area and build membership.

We have been building membership by members inviting guests and by my advertising in networking newsletters online.

We average about 50% conversions visitor to members which is great.

We just started a marketing committee within the group and I am looking for advice.

We want to be the brand of choice in our area so any recommendations, conventional, or out of the box would be greatly appreciated.

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Jay’s Answer: What makes any referral group worth one’s time is the quality/quantity of leads (and resulting business). Why not create case studies of members (both new and old)? A series of stories of why people joined, how they worked together, what the results were (and what they honestly wished was better). If you can say that on average, your investment of an hour a week and $X/quarter results in $Y, then that’s a strong reason to join.

You also want people to join who are strong referrers as well. These people may be selling a higher priced offering (houses) that need a quality support team. These people may be looking more for quality help for themselves. So, commission a study of customer satisfaction of people in the group as well.

Between income and quality, you’ll have a strong marketing message.

Effective But Cheap Tradeshow Ideas?

Publicity

My company develops hardware/software touchscreen solutions for various verticals. Last year, we signed up for a tradeshow that we attend every year. We have put a significant amount of money down so far. Due to the economy, company executives have since pulled us out of the show, it will cost us 2 to 3 times what we have already paid to complete the show. As of now, if we don’t go, we will eat the cost. Without taking our typical large wooden booth (which would cost 10’s of thousands of dollars to ship and build), what are some creative/inexpensive ways to fill our 20×20 booth and drive more traffic?

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Jay’s Answer: Instead of trying to sell anything at the show, why not thank your customers for their years of support and get to know them better. Ask questions, find out what people are using/needing. Find out how people are using your products. Find great stories of how your products have saved lives, businesses, etc. Do market research. Perhaps hire some freelance programmers to create some games that show off your touchscreens and let people sit and play. While people are queued up, talk to them.

Should We Publish Our Business Story?

Publicity

I work for a very successful engineering firm that has been in business since 1972. We are best known for the quality of our work, our innovation and commitment to what we do, not too sound so mainstream but it is the truth. One of our retired owners has been writing the story of the company and wanted all key senior engineers to write about past project involvement while they are all still around. I thought it would be a great idea to create a book for our 40 year anniversary. Most of our new engineers do not know the story of our company and I think it is worth telling it. However, there are key close minded senior engineers that oppose to the idea. I need your opinion on why would you oppose, and why you would think it is a good initiative.

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Jay’s Answer: I’d oppose it if: I was embarrassed by the work, didn’t want the recognition, or thought it was a self-congratulatory project that doesn’t have any real value.

I’d be in favor it it if: I had pride in my work, I saw that my story would inspire others, or was a project that could help my company’s bottom-line.

How Can We Boost Internal Business Communication?

Publicity

I work in the global marketing and communications team of a leading IT services company. The company has many fully/partially owned subsidiaries and also joint ventures. The senior leaders have realized that these subsidiaries and joint ventures are often kept aloof from whatever is happening in the parent organization and thus the employees of these organizations tend to have a lot of apprehensions about the parent organization. To overcome this gap I have been entrusted with the task to find of ways and means of effective communication with the subsidiaries and joint ventures. Please suggest how can the objective of effective two way communication be achieved. The motive is not just to keep them updated but also to encourage them to share their apprehensions, achievements etc.

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Jay’s Answer: Consider creating a wiki on a company intranet (using wikispaces for example). Anyone can post. Anyone can respond. RSS feed allows people to be notified on changes. Your IT department can quickly set up a wiki (for free) and boost your communication effectiveness.

How Can I Promote Our Web Conferencing Services?

eMarketing, Publicity

We have the best solution for web conferencing: robust, simple and economic. What is the best way to promote it to non-using clients? We already have 30 days free trial for the full version and free trial for 3 person web conferences.

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Jay’s Answer: You have two potential groups: people that use a competitor’s product (but are unsatisfied) or people that haven’t used a web conferencing product (because of techno-fears).

It’s easy to find the first group: they’re already searching for web conferencing products online. The second group is harder: they may be using teleconferencing products (for simplicity’s sake) or only face-to-face meetings.

The problem is that you want results fast. Neither of these groups is likely to come in droves quickly for your product, because few clients need to regularly web conference. The “regulars” have found a solution that is acceptable (if yours is much better than the competition, and you can prove it, then that’s your USP). The “occasionals” may need education to teach them WHY online meetings are much better than face-to-face, and how to make money doing online meetings. This takes time, though.

Your best bet is to start networking with businesses in your community to find those that do frequent meetings, and build testimonials. Alternatively, create an affiliate program to encourage others to help you sell the services.

Is Your Advertising Amoral?

Creative Business Ideas, Publicity

The moral is...
Photo by Hamed Saber

You already know that a strong headline gets people to start reading your (advertising or marketing) copy. You also know that the purpose of every paragraph is to get people to continue to read the rest of the copy. But what happens when people get to the end of your copy?

Each of Aesop’s Fables end with a brief moral (“One bad turn deserves another” or “Appearances are deceptive”) that summarizes the point of the story. Does your copy end with a moral-like statement? I think of this phrase as a “toeline” (the opposite of a headline). While a headline focuses on the benefit to the reader, the toeline focuses on your offering with a reminder about the benefit.

For example, if you’re selling raw, organic cat food (called Purely Cat Food), your headline might read: “Keep Your Cat Healthier Naturally“. Your copy would describe why most commercially available cat food is bad for cats, and by feeding your cats this food they’ll live longer and be sick less. Most people end the copy with “Now available at your local store”.

Instead, create a toeline that echoes the headline. For example, “Purely Cat Food Ensures Your Pet’s Health”. Notice it starts with the offering, then mentions the benefit.

The Anatomy of Buzz (Revisited)

Book Reviews, Publicity

Buy Anatomy Of Buzz Revisited

Everyone is looking for buzz – people talking about their offering. We all know that word of mouth marketing is the strongest form of marketing: it’s free, it spreads, and it’s personal. But how can you get your message to be spread virally?

Emanuel Rosen has been studying buzz for over 10 years (the accidental, the intentional, and the incorrect) and has amassed a lot of rules/tips to help you increase your “buzz factor”.

Today, the common advice you’re given is: go on a social media site (such as Facebook or Twitter), befriend a lot of people, join their conversation, and tell your story. The hope is that by sheer numbers, your story/message will go viral. The problem is, that advice only works if: your message is viral-friendly and if you have the right audience.

Is your message viral-friendly? People tend to talk about exciting products, innovations, personal experiences/interactions, complex products (that take an expert to understand), expensive products (to validate the price/value ratio), and visible products (things that they see in their environment). We are programmed to talk with each other, and we’re always looking to connect our lives with others’. A viral-friendly message is something that would naturally occur in our day-to-day interactions and whose purpose is to establish a positive social connection.

Do you have the right audience? The right audience may not be who you think they are. The the essence of any marketing strategy: identifying your target market to ensure you solve the problem they’re facing. Most people, after identifying their target market, try to target it with buzz directly. The problem is, not everyone that’s reachable is listening to you (an unknown or someone with a vested interest in the message). Instead of trying to try to target everyone – target the influencers. In the past, the influencers were editors/writers of newspapers and magazines. While these people are still influencers, there are now a large number of other people (“network hubs”) that are listening for something new/interesting to share with “their people”. It may be their Twitter followers, their blog readers, the eNewsletter subscribers, or their social group.

All network hubs share the following qualities: Ahead in adoption, Connected, Travelers, Information-hungry, Vocal, and Exposed to the media more than others (ACTIVE is the acronym). The book focuses on how to find such hubs:

  1. Letting network hubs identify themselves
  2. Identifying categories of network hubs
  3. Spotting network hubs in the field
  4. Identifying network hubs through surveys

Once you’ve identified the hubs, you need to give them something worth talking about and encouragement to share the message with others. And by all means, make sure that what they’re talking about is something of true value (otherwise, your buzz will turn negative on you).

If you’re interested in more information about buzz, you may also want to check out WOMMA.

How Can I Do PR For My First Book?

Publicity, Starting Out

Jay’s Answer: Start by creating a marketing strategy. Identify the groups of people most likely to be interested in the book, and choose the best ways to have your message in front of them. It could be simply to identify editors of magazines and send them your book for review, find people interested in interviewing you for their TV/radio/Internet show, etc. If you haven’t written a press release, consider this as well – it’s one source for sources for articles. But be warned – there’s a huge number of people who are asking for (free) PR. If you want to ensure your message to be seen, you’ll also need to spend some $ advertising (pay-per-click, etc.).

What Should A New Owner Do?

eMarketing, Products, Publicity, Starting Out

I’m a new owner of existing restaurant that wish to increase the amount of clients . Based on your experience, what would be the best and fastest way to attract customers?
And should I change the name of the restaurant?

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Jay’s Answer: If the restaurant wasn’t doing well, then rebranding it makes sense. Don’t put “under new management” signs up – people don’t care. If the food is good, the word spreads. If it doesn’t, it spreads faster. New management is a plea for trying it again, because there was a problem.

If the restaurant is doing well, then increasing # of customers (or average expenditure/customer) is your goal. Don’t rebrand – do improve the menu, adding some high-priced items (not necessarily to sell these, but it will psychologically cause an increase in the the avg. expenditure/customer). Build a loyalty program to increase the pull to come to your restaurant.