2008 by admin.

There are so many ways to spend your advertising budget, aren’t there? But before you commit one dollar to the activity of promoting your product or service, understand the three most important things about effective advertising.
1. What should you say? There are plenty of cute, clever, creative ads out there. These win awards for many advertising agencies. But what, exactly, do these ads say about the product or service? Before you go the way of ‘clever, cute or creative,’ ask if the message will tell your prospect, the person who should be buying from you, what your product or service does for them, why they should buy it, and why it is different from any similar product or service. And be sure to tell all that believably.
2. Who should you say it to, and how often? Is it better to say what you have to say to a whole bunch of people once, or a few people a number of times? You absolutely want to repeat your message to your prospect a number of times, in order to establish your product or brand in the minds of your audience. Look to maximize your budget with reach (who you advertise to) as well as frequency (how often you say it).
3. Where should you say it? You should exercise advertising options in both intrusive and passive media. Intrusive media is sound-based and includes radio and TV. Intrusive advertising does not require the prospect to process your message, rather, it intrudes into the prospect’s consciousness. These ads reach your prospects before they are ready for your product or service. A good follow up to intrusive advertising is passive advertising, and includes phone book ads, print ads, direct mail and billboards. These are points of reference that require the prospect to read and process information. Typically, these ads are used by a prospect who is already looking for your service.

- Amy Biemiller

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2008 by admin.

Someone, somewhere, once said that there is no such thing as bad publicity. We beg to differ. There is much you can do to position your company in the best light when the media comes calling. Here are three easy-to-remember tips:
1. Ask about the deadline – A reporter calls you for a specific reason, and with a specific deadline. You are not obligated to respond to the reporter asap. Ask when the deadline is, and respond back to the reporter before the deadline. If you can’t do an interview, say so promptly. This buys you goodwill with the press.
2. Take “no comment” out of your vocabulary – If a reporter calls or asks a question during a press conference, and you can’t provide a comment, provide a reasonable explanation. What sounds better to you? “No comment,” or “Because the incident is under investigation, we are not able to provide any additional information at this time.”
3. Know the audience and prepare to address their needs. – If reporters from Entrepreneur and Working Mother magazines call you for interviews, you will need to get different messages across to their audiences. One audience will want to learn about the importance of your business plan and how that has made you a success. The other audience will want to learn how your top female executives balance their work and home responsibilities. Good interviews start with preparation on your end.

–Amy Biemiller

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2008 by admin.

While working on public-speaking techniques with a group of high school students recently, we were reminded about the importance of slowing down our delivery for better audience reception. Being around teenagers puts you into the ‘perfect storm’ of communications conundrums: an onslaught of creativity and enthusiasm, coupled with the English language spoken at the speed of light.

Getting your message across to a group often makes even veteran speakers nervous. Nervousness can then translate into rapid-fire delivery of well-prepared information. Here are two exercises we learned a long time ago, which help to slow delivery of the spoken word:

Alphabet recitation – Easy to do and works like a charm. Simply say the alphabet (and you can do it aloud or just under your breath), but whisper every other letter. Try it and you’ll see that you have to make a conscious effort to do the ‘whisper’ part, which slows your delivery.

Vowel distortion – You should definitely try this only when you are alone, as anyone with you will think you need medical attention. But it works. Simply say each vowel, but get your whole mouth and jaw into the pronunciation. Really distort and elongate the vowel letter, along with your lips, and you will not only take yourself a lot less seriously, you will have calmed your pulse and your speaking pace.

–Amy Biemiller

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2007 by admin.

We’ve seen some artistic sales collateral in our time. Glossy. Embossed. Die-cut. Also, glossy, embossed and die-cut. We’ve seen cute and kitsch. And most of the time we’ve seen these samples because a client has asked for our help after determining that the material has cost the company money and doesn’t pull its weight in generating leads or shortening the sales cycle.

Ineffective sales collateral happens to good companies. Could your sales collateral could be more effective? Answer these questions:

• Does your collateral explain the history of your company?
• Does your collateral define specs for your products or list the services you provide?
• Does your collateral provide the number of staff on hand, names and contacts of various executives in the company,
and/or awards won?

If you answered yes, you’ve got great overview material, but an ineffectual sales tool.

The difference between ineffective and effective is purpose. Your sales collateral should help your sales team win the client. To win the client, provide collateral that gets the prospect engaged and ready to talk business. Effective sales collateral does that if it answers these questions with hard and fast data:

• How good is your company?
• How good is your product or service?
• Will the products or services do what the prospect needs them to do?
• Do your customers get value from your products/services?

Once the client is talking with the sales team about solutions, then you have the opportunity to provide the history, spec sheets and service lists in all their glossy, die-cut and embossed glory.

–Amy Biemiller

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2007 by admin.

In this era of extraordinary customer relationship management, the gift-giving season can seem like a rocky road paved with land mines. Selecting and delivering the ‘perfect’ executive gift to valued clients has taken on the strategy-planning of a D-Day invasion. Will the gift have brand staying power? Will it be appreciated? Will it be too expensive to accept as per corporate policy, or perceived as not expensive enough?

Here’s news that will assuage your gift-giving angst: the 2007 National Incentive Survey indicates the most-appreciated executive gifts include nice chocolates, a USB memory stick, good champagne, and a gift card for wine. Coupled with a handwritten note expressing your best wishes and thanking the recipient for their business elevates any of those ‘most-appreciated’ gifts to a thoughtful and elegant personal expression.

But if you are bent on doing something to showcase your creativity, or to make a big splash, remember the golden rule of gift-giving: if you wouldn’t want to receive it, you shouldn’t give it.

–Amy Biemiller

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2007 by admin.

As conservation is the trend-du-jour, we are taking a stance to eliminate unnecessary e-mails. Did you know that over 130 million e-mails are sent daily? Some of you reading this may feel you get all 130 million, so you may consider yourselves charter members of our lobby. It’s the other percent of the population we want to convert.

Here’s the short list of conditions under which you should NOT e-mail:
• When you need iterative back-and-forth discussion. It’s better to do this face-to-face.
• If you receive a rambling, long, confusing or angry e-mail, call that person and ask to discuss.
• Confidential information. Remember, someone else can always read your e-mail without you knowing. If you don’t want something shared, don’t e-mail it.
• When you need to tell someone bad news. Do this in person. It helps you gauge their reaction and helps both of you move past a conflict.
• When you need to apologize. Always do this in person.

–Amy Biemiller

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1969 by admin.

When it comes to considering social media as part of a marketing strategy, most business people are of the same mind: it sounds like a good idea, but the specifics about its utility are vague. Is YouTube for you? Should you flirt with Flickr? And what in the world is Twitter?

Social media are marketing tools that use the internet to disseminate messages. These media are comprised of various online communities that, once you join, allow you to shift back and forth from being the audience to the author. Here are brief descriptions of a few of these social media outlets:

• Blog – A personal online diary.

• Flickr – Upload, share and view photos.

• YouTube – Upload, share and view short videos.

• FaceBook – eDirectory that allows you to create, view and share a personal info page.

• Twitter – Mass text messaging of up to 140 characters

• LinkedIn – Business networking site that allows registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people they know and trust in business.

• Digg – Discover, share and view content \ from anywhere on the Internet. 

- Amy Biemiller

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