New Advertising Opportunities for the Local Business Community

Having multiple avenues to display your message is crucial.  Repetition and continuity help to ensure message reception by your key targets.

HHS-INDIANS.COM supplies just this type of advertising.  Through a single sponsorship, ad placement is positioned five times.  Once on the internet with a web banner or block.  Next is live audio endorsement from the sportscasters during the game.  Third is "lower third" advertising in the web downloadable highlights videos.  Finally, those same lower thirds are maintained in the full length DVDs, which are for sale, along with the original "live" sportscaster's audio.

Strong reinforced messaging for small dollars makes for a great deal.

Have questions about advertising?  Visit maa.technical-t.com

Want to sponsor the football games?  Visit hhs-indians.com

Want the technical details?  Visit www.technical-t.com

How well are you selling yourself

Are you still scratching off that old phone number from your business card?  Or maybe your email changed.  Whatever the case, make sure you are presenting yourself and company in a professional manner.  Your credibility will drop a notch everytime you tell a client that the information on your card is incorrect.  Cards are cheap.  Always keep them updated.

It doesn't hurt to reevaluate your card either.  Is all your info there?  What about the spacing, is it too crowded?  Is your logo up-to-date?  (You don't have to redesign the logo, but it should look like it was created recently with styling that represents your field.)  Are the images nice and crisp?

Another great way to freshen up your presentation is with a different printing process.  Do your cards have raised printing or are they flat?  Don't be limited by colors, most printing won't cost much more for full color cards.  I do recommend that you stay with traditional size and shape.  Many people still use a some sort of organizer to hold all of their cards.  If it won't fit it will get tossed, if its too small it will get lost.  I can hear you screaming, "...but this is the digital age, no one does that anymore."  We all want to get to a paperless society and we believe we have had great progress, but the truth is we are not there yet.  You need to play both sides of the fence, hence your cards should contain all your digital links to your digital information.

Lastly, let your cards flow like water.  Give them to everyone.  Paper truly is cheap.  If you are not able to spend a little for cards each year, we need to look much deeper to see why your budget is so tight.

Measure the Accuracy of your Marketing

Generalized marketing packages can often lead to consumers feeling like they are dealing with dirty used cars salesmen.  It is the proper research that goes into a promotion that will help to avoid this scenario.

One that often visits my mailbox, is from my own banking institution.  I have my mortgage through them.  The letter states that I have been "selected" in meeting the requirements for an outstanding rate reduction.  Usually, using their offer, I can calculate the same monthly payment that I have now, but pay off the mortgage in 1/2 the time.  I receive it about once a month.  I know its too good to be true, so I just trash it.  However, before making such statements in writing, I thought that I would verify everything first.  Having the letter in hand, along with other offers, I sat down with my loan officer.  It took no more than 10 total minutes.  The first answer was as follows:

"Oh no.  There's no way we can do that.  We can't begin to match these numbers."

This wasn't because my credit score is bad or the other "guidelines" for credit worthiness.  It is just bad marketing.  (They were able to offer me a 1/8th percent reduction.  Not worth the price once you figure in appraisals, closing costs, etc....)

So, to put it simply, watch your words.  Don't offer incredible offers that are too good to be true.  It only lessens the reputation of the company.  I still do business with my bank, but I know not to trust them.

What hurts your bottom line the most......

There is one thing that is more powerful than any other. It overrides your great ideas, your superb product, the greatest of marketing secret weapons. Most marketers don't even want to touch the subject.
Your Achille's heel are people.
Yes, people. It is people with whom we interact with everyday, and who carry out the duties and desires of the company. Too much assumption is placed upon product or presentation in order to drive the sales. It is still people who sell, market, advertise, create, etc..... To overlook this fact will truly make for a sad ending to your corporation. We are not just talking about the staff on your payroll. No, it extends much further beyond.
This week alone, I had two projects that I worked on, in which the end result cost the client more than double the original price. Why? One person, in each case, trying to fulfill a role in which they were not competent. The client hired them. I don't know the true reason, but when I spoke with each of them, they seemed quite nice, willing to help, and spoke well. From initial phone calls, I would say I even liked them both. The sad part is that I have no other nice comments. From that point on it was all down hill. The knowledge of the industry and workflow was less than that of a college intern. The clients were not small nor cheap. We're talking national corporations.
If I go into a bar and ask for a "Black Russian" or a "Long Island Iced Tea" and the bartender is unaware of the ingredients, would you be concerned? I would simply ask for a bottled beer, especially if the place is really busy. I can safely assume it would take quite a long time for the bartender to find the recipe and figure it out. The outcome might not be so pretty. Sure, I can hear you saying that everyone needs to learn and just give 'em a chance. From a business perspective however, I won't have that person "learning" on my busiest night of business. This seems to be so obvious in these little scenarios, but somehow it gets all mixed up in our own business. Family, politics, urgency to get things done, improper planning all can be contributors. Here we explore some ways to poke our vendors and staff to see if they are well seasoned or if maybe they are still a little too rare.
How often do you review your portfolio, ledgers, and P&L? People too need reviewed, both inside and outside the corporate walls. Make sure you are getting the best for the money you pay.

DNS errors??

I've looked all over the net the past few days.  No one seems to have any news about network problems from this last Sat. (03/08)  Throughout most of the day it was hit or miss whether or not I could view any given site.  I had a friend in northern Ohio verify the same results.  If I knew the IP address, I had no problem connecting.  I assumed some DNS problems.  Strange that I can't find any news on this.  Anyone else experience this?

RGB vs. CMYK

These refer to color space, or how colors are defined for a given medium. CMYK should be reserved to printed pieces. It is used to best show colors that are reflected from a printed surface. With RGB, its intent if for media which is shown through transmitted light. This would include anything for the web (shown on CRT or LCD displays). Television is similar to RGB, but has some additional restrictions from the FCC. Though some programs can translate between the color spaces, the result may not be what you expect. CMYK especially has a much more muted appearance when comparing bright colors. It is always best to start any deisgn in the color space in which the final result will be seen.