I require unique ideas for a BTL (below the line) activity for a toothpaste in a mall. Its targeted to 28 to 40 years old. Any ideas will be appreciated.
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Jay’s Answer: How about a toothpaste art contest (drawing with the toothpaste itself) in the mall, with everyone welcome to join in. Separate categories for adults, kids, families, etc.
Photo by MIXEvent
If you want to be just another public speaker, there are a lot of books, seminars, and classes that you can take. They’ll teach you how to craft your slides, how to dress, how to look at the audience, how to slow down your delivery, how to punch up your points, etc. All are great techniques. But none will teach you how to give a speech that will “wow” the audience, and have your speech be remembered and remarked upon.
The #1 problem with speeches is that they’re designed around the paradigm of a lecture. You have some key points you wish to teach, so you describe the problem, showcase your tips, and then wrap up your presentation with some great take-aways. How likely is this “how to” speech to be remembered a week later?
Inspirational talks are similar to lectures – the point is to impart a feeling into the audience to help them achieve more. So, heartwarming stories are told, and lessons that are embedded in the stories are shared. Weeks later, the stories may be remembered, but the adrenalin rush that accompanied the presentation/workshop dissipated.
So, what’s the secret to crafting a speech with passion? Personal heartfelt stories. A personal heartfelt story differs from a lecture in that you’re not positioning yourself to be more educated than your audience. These are not inspirational talks either – they don’t pull out a specific storyline as a “teachable” moment. Instead, you dig down to show something of deep emotional significance to yourself. Sharing that immediately connects your humanity with your audiences’. Heartfelt emotions aren’t enough – you also need a story – something that can be remembered by the audience. It must contain specific details to help people visualize your story. It must have a clear beginning, middle, and end (for more details read “How To Tell Your Marketing Story“). And it must be true.
To speak with passion means you’re connecting heart-to-heart with your audience, not brain-to-brain. A heartfelt connection is what your audience is craving. Help them get what they deeply desire.
Hello – I am looking for ideas for our trade show. The theme of the trade show is “Think out of the box, Leave the box behind”. It is for our local Apartmnent Association. Our company is a staffing agency that caters to the apartment industry. Also, FYI our company celebrated our 15th anniversary. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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Jay’s Answer: What does the theme mean? Instead of trying to get too caught up in echoing the theme for your booth, focus on your goals for the show. Are you trying to attract new business? Remind people you’re around? Hire people? The fact that you’ve been around for 15 years is nice, but it isn’t the reason that people hire you. What is? What makes your lots better than the competition? Focus on this message in your booth.
I have recently started a CPR and First Aid training business where I teach on site classes to health care professionals like dentists offices, physicians, chiropractors. I also teach for day care centers and home health agencies. I would like some help in finding the best marketing outlet to use and advertising that will bring in the best response. I have had some success in cold calling and sending letters and I am about to send out my first (over-sized) postcard mailing to 2500 Dentists in the surrounding area.
I am also using a graphic designer and marketer to create my postcard which will have a picture of me performing CPR on a training dummy along with a special offer on the front and all of my information on both the front and back of the card which is full color. My Call to action is to Visit my website and to Call today to schedule a class. What other ideas could i use to reach and build my clientele???
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Jay’s Answer: Ensure your marketing materials tell a personal story. Everyone knows that they should learn CPR and keep their certification up-to-date. But they often don’t. They know the could probably call the local Red Cross Center for trainings as well.
So, tell people why your classes have saved lives. Specific testimonials from past students would be a huge plus here. Instead of a photo of you with a dummy, why not a past student with the person whose life they saved?
Also – is your program certified (i.e., can you offer CEUs or the equivalent for health-care providers)?
I am trying to promote a standup comedy contest and get people to sign up as contestants. This one is directed towards people working in publicity, PR and marketing. While I have had an easy time getting people for past contests (which were for comedians in general), this one’s more difficult because I need to find comedians who work in marketing – two different groups with virtually no overlap. Oh – and also in/around a particular city. How would I go about finding this overlap?
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Jay’s Answer: A two-pronged approach: contact local comedy clubs (especially those that have open mic night) and local Chambers of Commerce. What you ultimately want are funny marketing people that can help fill a house (and let them help you market the event!).
We are an IT consulting company, specializing in ERP Solutions, particularly Microsoft Dynamics AX. We are attending a user group tradeshow in a couple of months and we are looking for ideas to drive traffic to our booth. We are interested in high value traffic, not the drop your business card for a chance to win kind of traffic.
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Jay’s Answer: I would think that you don’t simply want traffic – you want qualified leads visiting your booth. So, why should someone want to talk to you? What will make it worth their time to interact with you face-to-face (instead of looking at your website)? How are you dramatically better than your competition?
A game should reflect your marketing positioning, and not simply be a game for game’s sake. Otherwise, people will come for the game and not remember anything about your company.
A new bus bay at our Public Transportation Center has just been built and we’d like to have a grand opening event to showcase the many attributes before the first bus drives through. Although our Transit Center and original bay was built only 5 years ago (although built to look like a historic landmark to match other Down Town buildings), our service has grown with leaps and bounds- so this new transit bay is a much needed addition for all of the fixed route buses, trolley’s, shuttles, Greyhound buses, etc. that come through our Transit Center on a daily/hourly basis. In addition to the space, we have taken this opportunity to add real-time bus stops in this new bay that show where each bus is on each route- and when that bus will reach the Transit Center (based on new GPS technology installed on each bus). We’ve also installed another jumbo-tron showing each route and the estimated time each bus will arrive (like at the airport) inside the transit center building- all of which are powered by solar panels.
We live in a small community- and our Public Transportation (although recently given a facelift) still holds a negative stigma (only low-income people ride the bus). We feel like this grand opening event, like any thing else we do, has the opportunity to shed a positive light on public transit and what it offers to our community. Any thoughts on a grand opening idea?
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Jay’s Answer: How about a series of party buses rolling through? For example, a jazz band arrives on the first bus, then play, then leave. 30 minutes later, a magician arrives, etc. The message: “The easy way to find fun on the bus”.
I am from a Stock Market Trading company. I am planning to launch our new service related product whereby, people who become our member will be getting some incentive based income. And this product launch I am planning is through a seminar where I can get people who are really interested to listen and decide. Please suggest on how to increase the footfall in a seminar apart from the activities like advertisement, Radio, SMS, Emails, Telecalling, Road side Banners, etc. through which I can get the maximum people attending this event. I am conducting in a Urban & Semi-Urban city of Gujarat, India.
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Jay’s Answer: Focus on bringing in a small, well-connected group of individuals with the goal of generating word-of-mouth. Likewise, create social media (i.e., Facebook) groups to facilitate people to find you and spread interest of your seminar/product.
Our airport is looking at running an open night for the public to increase retail spend when the actual airport is closed for passenger traffic i.e., after 7pm. We would open up our retail area to the public to increase retail spend, trying to think of some innovative ideas to drive awareness of this night and to encourage members of the public to come down to the airport and do their shopping!we are on average 25% cheaper than high street shops on items from clothing to perfume. Any ideas??
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Jay’s Answer: It’s an interesting concept. First, focus on the difference in experience between the airport and high street shops. Airport shops tend to be about efficiency – making it easy to purchase something, but not necessarily luxuriating in the shopping experience. Can you soften the airport’s retail area to add environmental ambiance? For example: music, dining on the tarmac, a runway/catwalk show, or even an event on a (parked) plane?
I am trying to find some good taglines for a County Council initiative. Its called Support With Confidence. It is a web based directory of personal assistants who can provide care & support services in the home. I need to recruit people to register as PAs and I am currently developing leaflets & posters etc. I am trying to focus on the positive rewards of working in social care and the fact that the work can be varied but also I need to be realistic. Do you have any ideas for some snappy taglines?
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Jay’s Answer: Given the limited information you provided, here are a couple of suggestions for your consideration: